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"From the outside, it appears crazy," the young defender says, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum brought high expectations as the young defender was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was dramatic. The new manager had taken over to replace the previous coach and a host of key players were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the central defender scored after the opening minutes, albeit the goal was overshadowed by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after the opening moments, is certainly a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The player could have been excused for questioning 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 following game on 30 August was just as bad. The squad threw away comfortable advantages to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. He was sacked on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If composure defines his game, it was on show during the conversation he participated in after being selected for England 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 always intended to do at the team – compete. The new manager has brought stability. His team have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with draws 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.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The England head coach was a fan last season, including him 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 provided him with a late call-up in September when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in training and within the squad environment because he was named at the beginning in Tuchel's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The dream is a first appearance. It is another thing he would surely take in his stride.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah says. "They were interested before he got appointed. So knowing it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with which manager was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"We had a numerous squad members departing and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have developed a competitive team with quality players. It is requiring patience to build and we are still progressing. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of last season's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the league, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his statistics from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he says. "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 promised because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I could errors at times but they will look under that and recognize I can continue developing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls 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 precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a smile, beginning with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It proved a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I learned something new. That's when I knew how crucial experience and playing games was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the summer."