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"To an observer, it appears crazy," the young defender 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 unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Days after winning the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum brought high expectations as the 22-year-old was charged with settling in in a new country and at a club where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a number of star performers were gone or going – chief among them several high-profile names, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, established players and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at home to their opponents and the central defender scored after the opening minutes, albeit the achievement was overshadowed by tragedy. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after the opening moments, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

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 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he participated in after joining England for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the team – compete. Hjulmand has established consistency. His team have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with draws in each of their European matches. But there is a more significant number that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The national team manager was a fan last season, including him when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in training and within the squad environment because he was selected at the beginning in the manager's squad selection for the upcoming matches, essentially as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The dream is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly handle with ease.

Career Choices

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with which manager was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"There were a lot of players departing and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had recently show that we have got a competitive team with quality players. It is going to take time to build and we are still progressing. 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 wrench for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the one he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his statistics from the prior season when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you need games and I'm will require extensive playing time to be where I want to be.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes 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 later part of that season where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a grin, beginning with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important part of my career because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Every game I learned something new. That's when I understood how crucial practical knowledge and playing games was. You could say it informed my choice in the summer."