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

A Brief Summary

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to join the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee equalled big pressure as the young defender was tasked with settling in 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 number of key players were gone or going – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the centre-half found the net after five minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by tragedy. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"To have a goal on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to at Leverkusen. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the following game on 30 August was just as bad. Ten Hag's team squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If calmness defines his game, it was evident during the interview he gave 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 club – 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 Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The national team manager was a admirer last season, including him when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he gave him a late call-up in the autumn when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment because he was selected at the beginning in the manager's 24‑man group for the upcoming matches, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The dream is a first appearance. It is another thing he would surely take in his stride.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a while and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested before he got appointed. 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 make that decision.

"We had a lot of players departing and it's consistently challenging 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 quality players. It is requiring patience to build and we are not where we want to be. 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 leave Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in the previous season when he was introduced as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the competition, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with 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 my former club and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience and I'm going to be needing extensive playing time to be where I want to be.

"I just wanted 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 an environment where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will see beyond that and see I can continue developing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his loan to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a smile, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It proved a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's when I knew how valuable practical knowledge and match practice was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the off-season."