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"From the outside, it appears crazy," the young defender remarks, 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 unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Days after winning the U21 European Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to join the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum brought big pressure as the young defender 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 succeed Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were gone or going – chief among them several high-profile names, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the central defender scored after five minutes, though the achievement was undercut 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 mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after five minutes, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at Leverkusen. After the encouraging beginning in their first league game, they fell to a narrow loss and the next match on August 30th was just as bad. The squad threw away 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 much longer. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

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 being selected for England for the Wembley friendly against their rivals and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, 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 draws in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is one that the England head coach has noted. The England head coach was a fan last season, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion 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 within the squad environment because he was named at the beginning in Tuchel's squad selection for the upcoming matches, effectively as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is another thing he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of organizational choice and nothing would change with which manager was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a lot of players departing and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had recently demonstrate that we have got a good squad with quality players. It is requiring patience to develop and we are not where we want to be. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and avoiding defeats that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in the previous season when he was introduced as an late replacement.

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 preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches 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 so good for my professional development," 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 regular playing opportunities and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I could errors at certain moments but they will look under that and see I can keep pushing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his loan to League One Bristol Rovers 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 says with a grin, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It proved a extremely important part of my career because I wanted to make the next step to playing first-team football. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's when I knew how crucial experience and playing games was. You could say it influenced my decision in the off-season."