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"From the outside, it appears crazy," the young defender says, as he looks back 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

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to join the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum brought high expectations as the young defender was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was substantial. Erik ten Hag had taken over to replace the previous coach and a number of star performers were departing or already left – including Florian Wirtz, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after five minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by tragedy. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah states. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at Leverkusen. After the encouraging beginning in their first league game, they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the following game on 30 August was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 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 kind to worry. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he gave after being selected for the national team for the Wembley 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 originally planned to do at the team – compete. The new manager has brought stability. His team have positive results 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 team's season.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The national team manager was a admirer last season, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in the summer 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 impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was named at the outset in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would surely take in his stride.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not just from the coach," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to come in ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"We had a numerous squad members leaving and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have developed a competitive team with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are achieving positive outcomes 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 team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the league cup triumph over their London rivals in the previous season when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of 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 non-playing reserve on multiple matches 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 consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was regular playing opportunities 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 certain moments but they will look under that and see I can continue developing and pushing."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers his loan to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a grin, starting with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It was a extremely important part of my career because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's where I knew how valuable experience and match practice was. You could say it influenced my choice in the summer."