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"To an observer, it appears insane," the young defender says, as he looks back on his summer just gone, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum brought big pressure as the young defender was tasked with settling in in a new country and at a team where the turnover was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were gone or going – chief among them several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the central defender scored after the opening minutes, though the achievement was undercut by tragedy. 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 five minutes, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their first league game, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the next match 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. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If composure defines his game, it was on show during the interview he gave after joining England for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the team – play. The new manager 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 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.

International Recognition

It is something that the England head coach has noted. The national team manager was a admirer previously, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he provided him with a late call-up in the autumn when the experienced defender 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 outset in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The dream is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would surely take in his stride.

Career Choices

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a while and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So understanding it was a sort of internal decision and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a lot of players leaving and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had recently show 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 achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a good place to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he experienced 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 a part of last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the competition, his limited playing time falling short compared to his statistics from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing extensive playing time to be where I want to be.

"I just wanted game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not promised because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will look under that and recognize 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 "multiple reality checks", he notes with a smile, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's where I knew how crucial practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it influenced my decision in the off-season."