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"From the outside, it seems insane," the young defender says, as he looks back on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Days after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum equalled high expectations as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a club where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had taken over to replace the previous coach and a host of key players were departing or already left – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, established players and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at home to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after five minutes, though the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their first league game, they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. The squad squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the interview he gave after being selected for England for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the club – play. The new manager has brought stability. His team have positive results in four league matches along with draws in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a more significant number that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is one that the England head coach has noted. The national team manager was a admirer last season, including him when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a late call-up in September when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in training and around the camp because he was selected at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The dream is a first appearance. It is another thing he would certainly handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were interested in me for a while and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of organizational choice and nothing would change with whatever coach was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a numerous squad members leaving and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had recently show that we have got a competitive team with talented individuals. It is going to take time to develop and we are not where we want to be. 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 difficult separation for Quansah to depart from his long-time club, his club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also involved in last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his numbers from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Professional Growth

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience and I'm going to be needing extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted 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 look under that and see I can continue developing 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 says with a smile, beginning with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It proved a extremely important chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's where I knew how crucial practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it influenced my choice in the off-season."