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"From the outside, it seems insane," the young defender remarks, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after winning the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to go to the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum brought high expectations as the 22-year-old was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a club where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace the previous coach and a number of key players were departing or already left – chief among them several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the central defender scored after five minutes, though the achievement 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.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up for at the German club. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the following game on August 30th was equally disappointing. The squad threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in stoppage 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 composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he participated in after joining England for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the team – play. The new manager has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic 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 something that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The national team manager was a admirer previously, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Still to win his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in training and around the camp because he was selected at the beginning in Tuchel's 24‑man group for the upcoming matches, effectively as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the team were interested in me for a while and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So knowing it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with which manager was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a numerous squad members departing 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] show that we have got 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 avoiding defeats that is a good place to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench 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 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the perspective 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 statistics from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been so good 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 at my desired level.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at certain moments but they will see beyond that and see I can continue developing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a smile, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It proved a really valuable chapter in my development because I wanted to make the next step to playing first-team football. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's where I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could say it informed my decision in the off-season."