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"To an observer, it appears insane," the young defender says, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after winning the European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to go to the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum equalled big pressure as the young defender was charged with finding his feet in a new country and at a team where the churn was dramatic. The new manager had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were gone or going – chief among them several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, established players and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd 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 tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, at home, after five minutes, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage 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 fell to a narrow loss and the following game on 30 August was just as bad. Ten Hag's team threw away comfortable advantages 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 September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the conversation he gave after joining England for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the club – play. Hjulmand has brought stability. His squad have positive results in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The England head coach was a admirer previously, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

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 the manager's squad selection for the upcoming matches, 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

"At Leverkusen, the team were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of internal decision and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a lot of players departing and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the outcomes we have had recently show that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is going to take time to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results 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 club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his statistics from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I've always learned off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been so good for my career," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm will require hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are elite performers all over the pitch. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I could errors at times but they will see beyond that and recognize I can continue developing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers 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 "multiple reality checks", he says with a grin, beginning with his first game; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It was a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's when I understood how valuable practical knowledge and match practice was. You could suggest it informed my choice in the summer."