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"To an observer, it appears insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back on his recent summer, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Quick Recap

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee equalled big pressure as the young defender was charged with finding his feet in a new country and at a team where the turnover was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a host of star performers were departing or already left – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at home to Hoffenheim and the central defender found the net after the opening minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at the German club. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the following game on 30 August was just as bad. The squad threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If composure defines his game, it was evident during the interview he participated in after joining England for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the team – play. The new manager has brought stability. 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 broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the one which shows he has been ever-present of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The England head coach was a admirer previously, including him when he named his first squad. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he gave him a late call-up in September when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Still to win his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and around the camp because he was selected at the outset in the manager's squad selection for the upcoming matches, effectively as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The dream is a debut. It is one more milestone he would surely take in his stride.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the club were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was straightforward 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 establish new hierarchies but the results we have had recently demonstrate that we have developed a good squad with quality players. It is going to take time to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a good place to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in the previous season when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his view of much of that was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the competition, his limited playing time falling short compared to his numbers from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"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 hundreds of games 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 guaranteed because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at certain moments but they will see beyond that and see I can continue developing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a smile, beginning with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It proved a extremely important part of my career because I aimed to take the next step to playing first-team football. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's where I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could say it informed my choice in the off-season."