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

A Brief Summary

Days after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee equalled high expectations as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a new country and at a club where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had taken over to succeed the previous coach and a host of key players were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after the opening minutes, though the goal was undercut by tragedy. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

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

Initial Struggles

The player could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their first league game, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the next match on 30 August was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away comfortable advantages to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If composure defines his game, it was on show during the interview he participated in after joining the national team for the international 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 always intended to do at the team – play. The new manager 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 measure of vindication. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is something that the England head coach has observed. The England head coach was a admirer last season, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he gave him a late call-up in the autumn when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment because he was named at the outset in the manager's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The dream is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the club were keen on signing me for a while and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "They were interested before he got appointed. So knowing it was a type of internal decision and nothing would change with which manager was to take over ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"We had a numerous squad members leaving and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have got a competitive team 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 start."

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 Chelsea in the previous season when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the one he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his numbers from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Professional Growth

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you need games and I'm going to be needing 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 promised because there are world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will see beyond that and recognize I can continue developing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his loan to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a smile, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It proved a extremely important chapter in my development because I aimed to take the next step to playing first-team football. Every game I learned something new. That's where I understood how crucial experience and match practice was. You could suggest it informed my choice in the summer."