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"To an observer, it appears crazy," Jarell Quansah remarks, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after winning the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to join the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The big fee equalled big pressure as the young defender was tasked with settling in in a new country and at a club where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had taken over to succeed the previous coach and a number of key players were gone or going – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, established players and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at home to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after five minutes, albeit the achievement was overshadowed by tragedy. All he could think about 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, at home, after the opening moments, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up for at the German club. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the following game on August 30th was just as bad. The squad squandered 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. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he participated in after being selected for England for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the club – play. The new manager has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw 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 sense of justification. It is the one which shows he has been ever-present of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The England head coach was a fan previously, including him when he named his first squad. After leaving him out 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 compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in training and around the camp because he was named at the outset in the manager's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is another thing he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of organizational choice and nothing would change with whatever coach was to come in ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"We had a lot of players departing and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have got a competitive team with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a good place to start."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – 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 the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his numbers from 2023‑24 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 says. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience and I'm will require extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted game time and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I could errors at certain moments but they will see beyond that and see I can continue developing 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 – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a grin, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It proved a extremely important chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's when I understood how crucial practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it informed my decision in the off-season."