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"From the outside, it appears crazy," the young defender 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 crazy 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 Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum equalled big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a club where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace the previous coach and a number of key players were gone or going – including Florian Wirtz, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the central defender found the net after the opening minutes, though the achievement was undercut by sadness. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, at home, after five minutes, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "However, my dominant emotion 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. From the promising start in their first league game, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the following game on August 30th was just as bad. 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 no longer his responsibility for much longer. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If composure defines his game, it was evident during the conversation he participated in after joining the national team for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have positive results in four league matches 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 one which shows he has played every minute of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The national team manager was a admirer previously, including him when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment 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 first appearance. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"We had a lot of players departing and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had recently show that we have got a good squad with quality players. 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."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to depart from his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

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 chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his numbers from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been so good for my professional development," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm going to be needing extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not promised because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will see beyond that and see I can keep pushing and improving."

Early Experience

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 "multiple reality checks", he says with a grin, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It proved a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I learned something new. That's where I understood how valuable practical knowledge and playing games was. You could suggest it informed my choice in the off-season."