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"To an observer, it seems insane," the young defender 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

Shortly after winning the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee brought high expectations as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a club where the churn was dramatic. The new manager had taken over to succeed the previous coach and a number of star performers were departing or already left – including several high-profile names, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half scored after five minutes, albeit the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

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

Initial Struggles

The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their first league game, they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was just as bad. Ten Hag's team threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If calmness characterizes his playing style, 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 their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the team – play. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have positive results in four league matches along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a more significant number that encourages Quansah, even bringing a measure of vindication. 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 observed. The national team manager was a fan last season, including him when he named his first squad. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion 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 around the camp because he was named at the beginning in Tuchel's 24‑man group for the upcoming matches, essentially as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is another thing he would surely handle with ease.

Career Choices

"With my new club, the team were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So understanding it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with which manager was to come in ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"We had a numerous squad members departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the outcomes we have had recently show that we have got 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 achieving positive outcomes 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 club from the age of five, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the league, his four starts and nine appearances 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 Liverpool and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities and when you are at a top-level club, it's not guaranteed because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I could errors at certain moments but they will look under that and recognize I can keep pushing and pushing."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers his loan to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a smile, beginning with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It proved a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the next step to playing first-team football. Each match I learned something new. That's where I understood how crucial practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it influenced my decision in the off-season."