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"To an observer, it appears insane," the young defender says, as he looks back on his summer just gone, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a crazy game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to go to the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee brought high expectations as the young defender was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was substantial. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were gone or going – including Florian Wirtz, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half scored after five minutes, albeit the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after the opening moments, is certainly a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The player could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their first league game, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the next match on August 30th was just as bad. The squad squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for much longer. He was sacked on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the interview he gave after joining the national team for the Wembley friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the club – play. Hjulmand has brought stability. His squad have positive results in four league matches along with draws in each of their European matches. But there is a more significant number that motivates the player, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is one that the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a fan previously, including him when he named his first squad. After omitting him in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment because he was named at the beginning in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would surely 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 manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and nothing would change with which manager was to come in ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"There were a numerous squad members leaving and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the results we have had recently show that we have developed a good squad with talented individuals. It is going to take time to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a good place to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in the previous season when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in last season's Premier League title triumph. 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 competition, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his statistics from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you need games and I'm will require 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 guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at certain moments but they will see beyond that and recognize 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 – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a smile, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's where I understood how crucial experience and playing games was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the off-season."