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"From the outside, it seems insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Days after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee equalled big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was substantial. The new manager had stepped in to replace the previous coach and a number of star performers were gone or going – chief among them several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, established players and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at home to Hoffenheim and the central defender found the net after five minutes, albeit the goal was undercut by sadness. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up for at the German club. After the encouraging beginning in their first league game, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the following game on August 30th was just as bad. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

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

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the team – play. Hjulmand has brought stability. His team have positive results in their domestic campaign along with draws in each of their European matches. But there is a more significant number that encourages Quansah, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is something that the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a admirer previously, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After omitting him in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and around the camp because he was selected at the beginning in the manager's 24‑man group for the upcoming matches, essentially as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The dream is a debut. It is another thing he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the club were keen on signing me for a while and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "They were interested before he got appointed. So understanding it was a type of internal decision and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"We had a numerous squad members leaving and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have developed a good squad with talented individuals. It is going to take time to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a solid foundation to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation 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 Chelsea 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 perspective of much of that was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the league, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his statistics from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

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

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a grin, starting with his debut; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It proved a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's when I knew how valuable experience and match practice was. You could say it influenced my decision in the summer."