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"To an observer, it seems crazy," Jarell Quansah remarks, as he looks back on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Brief Summary

Days after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee equalled big pressure as the young defender was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had taken over to succeed Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half scored after five minutes, though the goal was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"To have a goal on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah states. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at the German club. From the promising start in their first league game, they fell to a narrow loss and the next match on August 30th was just as bad. The squad threw away comfortable advantages to finish level at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. He was sacked on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If calmness defines his game, it was evident during the interview he participated in after being selected for England for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the club – compete. The new manager has brought stability. His squad have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the team's season.

International Recognition

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The national team manager was a admirer previously, including him when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and around the camp because he was selected at the outset in the manager's squad selection for the upcoming matches, effectively as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is another thing he would certainly handle with ease.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and nothing would change with which manager was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"There were a numerous squad members departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is requiring patience to develop and we are not where we want to be. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from his long-time club, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the one he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his numbers from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm will require extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can have confidence that I could errors at times but they will look under that and recognize I can keep pushing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a smile, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It was a extremely important part of my career because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's when I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the summer."