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"From the outside, it appears crazy," Jarell Quansah says, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Days after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee brought big pressure as the young defender was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a club where the turnover was substantial. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were gone or going – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the central defender scored after five minutes, albeit the goal was overshadowed by tragedy. 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 tribute.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after five minutes, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The defender 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 fell to a 2-1 defeat and the following game on August 30th was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team 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 gave after being selected for England for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the team – play. The new manager has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a more significant number that motivates the player, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The national team manager was a fan previously, including him when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he gave him a late call-up in the autumn when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was named at the beginning in the manager's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is another thing he would certainly take in his stride.

Career Choices

"With my new club, the club were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a type of organizational choice and nothing would change with whatever coach was to take over ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"We had a lot of players leaving and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the results we have had recently show that we have got a good squad with quality players. It is requiring patience to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a good place to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the league cup triumph over their London rivals in the previous season when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of 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 unused substitute on 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time falling short compared to his statistics from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Career Development

"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 says. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm going to be needing extensive playing time to be where I want to be.

"I just wanted game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not promised because there are elite performers all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at certain moments but they will see beyond that and see I can keep pushing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his loan 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 "multiple reality checks", he says with a smile, beginning with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important part of my career because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's when I understood how crucial experience and playing games was. You could suggest it informed my decision in the summer."