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"From the outside, it appears crazy," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back on his summer just gone, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to join the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum equalled high expectations as the young defender was charged with finding his feet in a new country and at a team where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had taken over to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were gone or going – including several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, established players and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at home to Hoffenheim and the central defender scored after the opening minutes, though the goal was overshadowed by tragedy. 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.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, 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 first league game, they fell to a narrow loss and the following game on August 30th was just as bad. Ten Hag's team squandered comfortable advantages to finish level at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for much longer. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the conversation he gave after joining England for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

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. Hjulmand has established consistency. 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 more significant number 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.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The national team manager was a admirer last season, including him when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in training and around the camp because he was named at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for the upcoming matches, effectively as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would surely handle with ease.

Career Choices

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So knowing it was a type of internal decision and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"There were a numerous squad members leaving and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been difficult to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have developed a competitive team with talented individuals. It is going to take time to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a good place to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in the previous season when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of last season's domestic championship success. Yet his view of much of that was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time falling short compared to his numbers from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial 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 where I want to be.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not promised because there are world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted somewhere where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes at times but they will look under that and see I can keep pushing and pushing."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a grin, beginning with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It was a really valuable part of my career because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's when I knew how valuable practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it influenced my choice in the off-season."