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"To an observer, it appears crazy," Jarell Quansah remarks, 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 Brief Summary

Shortly after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum brought high expectations as the 22-year-old was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a club where the turnover was substantial. Erik ten Hag had taken over to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of star performers were departing or already left – chief among them several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half found the net after five minutes, though the goal was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is certainly a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up for at the German club. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the following game on 30 August was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. He was sacked on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If calmness characterizes his playing style, 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 Latvia.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the club – play. The new manager has brought stability. His team have positive results in their domestic campaign along with draws 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 been ever-present of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The England head coach was a fan last season, including him when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was selected at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The dream is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the team were interested in me for a while and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"There were a numerous squad members departing and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the outcomes we have had recently show that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is going to take time to build 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 start."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to depart from his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed 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 a part of last season's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the competition, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his numbers from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience 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 world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will see beyond that and see I can keep pushing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his loan to the lower division club 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 notes with a smile, beginning with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It proved a extremely important chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's where I knew how valuable experience and match practice was. You could say it influenced my decision in the off-season."