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

A Quick Recap

Shortly after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee equalled big pressure as the young defender was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had taken over to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half scored after five minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, 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, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is certainly 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 opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the following game on 30 August was just as bad. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If calmness defines his game, it was on show during the interview he gave 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 persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the club – play. Hjulmand has established consistency. 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 motivates the player, 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 the England head coach has noted. The England head coach was a admirer previously, including him when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a late call-up in the autumn when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and around the camp because he was named at the beginning in the manager's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a debut. It is another thing he would certainly handle with ease.

Career Choices

"With my new club, the team were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"There were 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 results we have had recently demonstrate that we have developed a good squad with quality players. It is requiring patience to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a good place to start."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in last season's domestic championship success. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his numbers from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he says. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience and I'm will require extensive playing time 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 world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will look under that and see I can continue developing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the later part of that season where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a grin, beginning with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It proved a extremely important 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 understood how crucial experience and playing games was. You could say it influenced my decision in the summer."