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"To an observer, it seems insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back on his recent summer, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum brought big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a club where the turnover was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were departing or already left – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, established players and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after five minutes, albeit the goal was overshadowed by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at Leverkusen. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. Ten Hag's team threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. He was sacked on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If calmness defines his game, it was evident during the interview he participated in after being selected for the national team for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the team – play. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have positive results in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic that motivates the player, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the fact that demonstrates he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is something that the England head coach has noted. The England head coach was a admirer last season, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the Under-21 European Championship, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and around the camp because he was named at the beginning in the manager'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 one more milestone he would certainly handle with ease.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So knowing it was a type of internal decision and nothing would change with which manager was to come in ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"We had a lot of players departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is requiring patience to develop and we are not where we want to be. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a solid foundation to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in the previous season when he was introduced as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the league, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his statistics from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my professional development," 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.

"My primary desire was regular playing opportunities and when you are at a top-level club, it's not guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can have confidence that I could errors at certain moments but they will look under that and recognize I can keep pushing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a grin, beginning with his first game; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It proved a extremely important part of my career because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's when I knew how crucial experience and match practice was. You could suggest it informed my choice in the summer."