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"From the outside, it appears crazy," Jarell Quansah remarks, as he reflects on his recent summer, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Brief Summary

Days after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum equalled high expectations as the young defender was tasked with settling in in a new country and at a club where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of star performers were departing or already left – chief among them several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at home to their opponents and the centre-half found the net after the opening minutes, though the achievement was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The player 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 fell to a narrow loss and the next match on 30 August was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the conversation he participated in after being selected for England for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the club – play. The new manager has brought stability. His team have three wins and one draw in four league matches 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 club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has observed. 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 youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in September when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was named at the outset in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Decision Making

"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. "They were interested before he got appointed. So understanding it was a type of internal decision and nothing would change 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 lose key players. It has been difficult to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had recently demonstrate that we have got a competitive team with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to build 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 team since childhood, where he experienced so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of last season's domestic championship success. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the league, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his statistics from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm will require extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are elite performers all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I might make mistakes at times but they will look under that and recognize I can continue developing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the later part of that season where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a smile, starting with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It was a really valuable chapter in my development because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's when I understood how crucial practical knowledge and playing games was. You could suggest it informed my decision in the off-season."