Bayer Leverkusen's Quansah Remains Composed and Continues Onward in His Steady Rise to Football Fame

"From the outside, it appears insane," Jarell Quansah 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

Shortly after winning the European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to go to the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum equalled big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was dramatic. The new manager had stepped in to replace the previous coach and a host of star performers were gone or going – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, influential figures, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at home to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after the opening minutes, though the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed his teammate's signature celebration as a tribute.

"To have a goal on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the following game on 30 August was just as bad. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If calmness defines his game, it was on show during the conversation he gave after joining England for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the club – play. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with draws in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a more significant number that motivates the player, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the one which shows he has been ever-present of the team's season.

International Recognition

It is one that the England head coach has observed. The England head coach was a fan previously, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him 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 selected at the beginning in Tuchel's squad selection for the upcoming matches, essentially as a additional defensive option with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the club were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So understanding it was a type of internal decision and nothing would change with which manager was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"We had a lot of players departing and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have got a competitive team with quality players. It is going to take time to build and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a good place to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to depart from his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in the previous season when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of last season's domestic championship success. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the one 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 the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"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 going to be needing extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was regular playing opportunities 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 keep pushing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to League One Bristol Rovers in the later part of that season where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a grin, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's where I knew how valuable practical knowledge and match practice was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the off-season."