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

A Brief Summary

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to go to the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought big pressure as the young defender was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was dramatic. The new manager had taken over to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were gone or going – chief among them several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, established players and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the central defender scored after the opening minutes, though the goal was undercut by sadness. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a tribute.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up for at the German club. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. The squad threw away comfortable advantages to finish level at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for much longer. He was sacked on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he participated in after joining England for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the club – play. The new manager has established consistency. His squad have positive results in four league matches along with ties in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that motivates the player, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is one that the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a fan last season, including him when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and around the camp because he was named at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for the upcoming matches, effectively as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is another thing 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 manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. 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.

"There were a lot of players leaving and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had recently demonstrate that we have got a good squad with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of much of that was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the competition, his limited playing time falling short compared to his numbers 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 career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing 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 guaranteed because there are world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I could errors at times but they will look under that and see I can keep pushing and pushing."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a grin, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It proved a really valuable part of my career because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's where I knew how crucial practical knowledge and playing games was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the off-season."