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"From the outside, it seems insane," the young defender remarks, 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 Brief Summary

Shortly after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum brought big pressure as the 22-year-old was tasked with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had taken over to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of star performers were departing or already left – including several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at home to their opponents and the centre-half found the net after five minutes, albeit the goal was overshadowed by tragedy. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to 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 equally disappointing. The squad threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for much longer. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Staying Focused

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 Wales and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the team – play. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have positive results in four league matches along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a more significant number that motivates the player, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the one which shows he has been ever-present of the club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is one that the England head coach has noted. The national team manager was a admirer previously, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he gave him a late call-up in the autumn when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment because he was named at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the club were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a type of internal decision and things would remain consistent with which manager was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"We had a lot of players departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been difficult to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have developed a competitive team with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a good place to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in the previous season when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the one he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his numbers from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

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 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 promised because there are world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted somewhere where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will see beyond that and recognize I can keep pushing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a grin, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important part of my career because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's when I knew how crucial experience and playing games was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the summer."