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"From the outside, it seems insane," the young defender remarks, as he looks back on his summer just gone, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Quick Recap

Days after winning the U21 European Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to go to the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum brought high expectations as the young defender was charged with settling in in a new country and at a club where the churn was dramatic. The new manager had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a host of star performers were gone or going – chief among them several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, established players and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half scored after five minutes, though the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling 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 the German club. After the encouraging beginning in their first league game, they fell to a narrow loss and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. The squad threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the conversation he gave after being selected for the national team for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the club – compete. The new manager has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with draws in each of their European matches. But there is a more significant number that encourages Quansah, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the fact that demonstrates he has played every minute of the team's season.

International Recognition

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The national team manager was a fan 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 provided him with a late call-up in the autumn when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was named at the beginning in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would surely take in his stride.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were interested in me for a while and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was straightforward 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 tough to build the leadership groups but the outcomes we have had recently show that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is requiring patience to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a good place to start."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of last season's domestic championship success. Yet his view of much of that was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the league, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his statistics from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been so good for my professional development," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm will require hundreds of games to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not promised because there are elite performers all over the pitch. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will look under that and recognize I can continue developing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer 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, beginning with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That represented 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. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's where I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could say it informed my choice in the summer."