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"From the outside, it seems crazy," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back on his summer just gone, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after winning the European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum equalled high expectations as the young defender was tasked with settling in in a foreign land and at a club where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had taken over to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of star performers were gone or going – including several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at home to Hoffenheim and the centre-half found the net after five minutes, though the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed his teammate's signature celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, at home, after five minutes, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at Leverkusen. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the conversation he gave after being selected for England for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match 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. Hjulmand has established consistency. His team have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that motivates the player, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is something that the England head coach has noted. The England head coach was a fan previously, 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 late call-up in the autumn when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was selected at the beginning in the manager's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is another thing he would certainly handle with ease.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the team were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of organizational choice and nothing would change with which manager was to come in ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"There were a numerous squad members leaving and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had recently show that we have developed a competitive team with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a solid foundation to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in last season's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the one he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his statistics from the prior season when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been so good for my career," he says. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience 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 team like Liverpool, 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 improving."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his temporary transfer to League One Bristol Rovers in the later part of that season where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a smile, beginning with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It proved a really valuable part of my career because I wanted to make the next step to playing first-team football. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's where I knew how crucial experience and playing games was. You could suggest it informed my choice in the summer."