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"To an observer, it appears insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back on his recent summer, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Quick Recap

Days after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to join the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum brought big pressure as the young defender was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was dramatic. The new manager had taken over to replace the previous coach and a number of key players were gone or going – including several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, established players and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at home to Hoffenheim and the centre-half found the net after the opening minutes, though the goal was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after the opening moments, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at the German club. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. The squad squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If composure defines his game, it was on show during the interview he participated in after being selected for the national team for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has brought stability. His team have positive results in four league matches along with ties in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a more significant number that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the team's season.

International Recognition

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The national team manager was a fan last season, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After omitting him in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he provided him with a late call-up in September when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Still to win his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in training and within the squad environment because he was named at the outset in the manager's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The dream is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and nothing would change with whatever coach was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a lot of players 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 recently show that we have developed a good squad with quality players. It is going to take time to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also involved in last season's domestic championship success. Yet his view of much of that was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the league, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his statistics from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he says. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted somewhere where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes at times but they will see beyond that and recognize I can continue developing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the later part of that season where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a grin, beginning with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It proved a really valuable part of my career because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's where I knew how crucial experience and playing games was. You could say it influenced my decision in the off-season."