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"From the outside, it appears insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back on his recent summer, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought big pressure as the 22-year-old was tasked with finding his feet in a new country and at a team where the churn was substantial. The new manager had taken over to succeed Xabi Alonso and a number of star performers were gone or going – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, established players and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the central defender found the net after five minutes, albeit the goal was overshadowed 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 first Bundesliga match, at home, after five minutes, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up for at the German club. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. Ten Hag's team squandered comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If composure defines his game, it was on show during the interview he gave after being selected for the national team for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad 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 played every minute of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The England head coach was a fan previously, including him when he named his first squad. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in September when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and around the camp because he was named at the beginning in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is another thing he would certainly take in his stride.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the team were keen on signing me for a while and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So understanding it was a type of organizational choice and nothing would change with which manager was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"There were a lot of players leaving 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 developed a good squad with quality players. 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."

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 enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in the previous season when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also involved in last season's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the league, his limited playing time falling short compared to his numbers from the prior season 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 professional development," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you need games and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are elite performers all over the pitch. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I could errors at certain moments but they will see beyond that and see I can keep pushing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a smile, starting with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It proved a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's when I understood how valuable experience and playing games was. You could say it influenced my choice in the off-season."