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"To an observer, it seems insane," the young defender says, as he looks back on his recent summer, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after winning the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee equalled high expectations as the young defender was tasked with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of star performers were gone or going – including several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, established players and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the central defender scored after five minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by tragedy. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after five minutes, is certainly a rollercoaster," 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 committed to at Leverkusen. After the encouraging beginning in their first league game, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for much longer. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If composure defines his game, it was on show during the conversation he gave after being selected for the national team for the international friendly against their rivals and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has established consistency. His team have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that motivates the player, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the team's season.

International Recognition

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has observed. 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 concentrate on the youth tournament, he gave him a late call-up in September when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was selected 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 one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the team were interested in me for a while and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and nothing would change with whatever coach was to take over ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"We had a numerous squad members departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been difficult to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have developed a good squad 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 good place to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his club from the age of five, 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 extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view 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 the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you need games and I'm will require hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities and when you are at a top-level club, it's not guaranteed because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I could errors at certain moments but they will look under that and see I can continue developing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers his loan to the lower division club in the later part of that season where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a grin, beginning with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important part of my career because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's where I knew how valuable practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it informed my decision in the off-season."