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"From the outside, it appears insane," the young defender remarks, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after winning the U21 European Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to go to the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum equalled high expectations as the 22-year-old was tasked with settling in in a new country and at a team where the churn was substantial. The new manager had taken over to replace the previous coach and a number of key players were departing or already left – chief among them several high-profile names, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

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

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, at home, after the opening moments, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up for at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their first league game, they fell to a narrow loss and the next match on August 30th was just as bad. Ten Hag's team threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the equaliser 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 calmness characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the interview he participated in after joining the national team for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the club – play. The new manager has established consistency. His team have positive results in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic 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 something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The England head coach was a admirer last season, including him when he named his first squad. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a late call-up in September when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and around the camp because he was selected at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would surely take in his stride.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the club were keen on signing me for a while and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"We had a numerous squad members departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is going to take time to build and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a solid foundation to begin from."

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 league cup triumph over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the one he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the competition, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with 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 incredibly beneficial for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience and I'm will require 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 guaranteed because there are world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will look under that and recognize I can continue developing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his loan to the lower division club in the later part of that season where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a smile, beginning with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It proved a really valuable part of my career because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's where I knew how crucial experience and match practice was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the summer."