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"To an observer, it seems insane," Jarell Quansah remarks, 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

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

The big fee brought high expectations as the 22-year-old was tasked with settling in in a new country and at a club where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had taken over to succeed Xabi Alonso and a number of star performers were departing or already left – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, established players and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half scored after the opening minutes, though the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, 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 player could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to 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 August 30th was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he gave after being selected for England for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and continued to do 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 Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a measure of vindication. 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 observed. The national team manager was a fan previously, including him when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could focus on the Under-21 European Championship, 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 selected at the beginning in the manager's squad selection for the upcoming matches, essentially as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The dream is a debut. It is one more milestone he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a while 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 which manager was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"There were a numerous squad members departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is requiring patience to develop and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a good place to start."

Liverpool Departure

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 memorable moments – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he came on 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 chosen. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the competition, his limited playing time falling short compared to his numbers from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you need games and I'm will require hundreds of games to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted game time and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will see beyond that and recognize I can continue developing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his temporary transfer to League One Bristol Rovers in the later part of that season where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a grin, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It was a really valuable part of my career because I aimed to take the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's when I understood how valuable experience and match practice was. You could suggest it influenced my decision in the summer."