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"To an observer, it appears crazy," the young defender says, as he reflects on his recent summer, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Days after winning the U21 European Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to join the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought high expectations as the young defender was charged with finding his feet in a new country and at a team where the turnover was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to succeed the previous coach and a host of star performers were departing or already left – chief among them several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half scored after the opening minutes, albeit the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after five minutes, is certainly a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had signed up for at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. The squad threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level 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 doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If calmness defines his game, it was on show during the interview he gave after joining the national team for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the team – play. The new manager has established consistency. His squad have positive results in their domestic campaign along with draws 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 one which shows he has been ever-present of the club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is something that the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a admirer last season, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could focus on the Under-21 European Championship, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and around the camp because he was named at the outset in the manager's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The dream is a first appearance. It is another thing he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," 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 take over ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a lot of players departing and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had recently demonstrate that we have developed a good squad with quality players. 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 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 league cup triumph over Chelsea in the previous season when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also involved in 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 unused substitute on multiple matches in the competition, his limited playing time falling short compared to his statistics from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm will require extensive playing time 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 world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I could errors at certain moments but they will look under that and see I can keep pushing and improving."

Early Experience

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

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It proved a extremely important part of my career because I aimed to take the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's where I understood how crucial practical knowledge and playing games was. You could suggest it informed my choice in the summer."