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"To an observer, it seems crazy," the young defender says, as he looks back on his recent summer, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after winning the European Under-21 Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to go to the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee brought big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were departing or already left – including Florian Wirtz, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at home to Hoffenheim and the central defender scored after the opening minutes, though the goal was overshadowed by sadness. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after the opening moments, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to at the German club. From the promising start in their first league game, they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the following game on August 30th was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the conversation he gave after joining the national team for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, 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 positive results in four league matches along with draws in each of their European matches. But there is a more significant number that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is one that the England head coach has noted. The national team manager was a admirer last season, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he provided him with a late call-up in September when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in training and around the camp because he was selected at the beginning in Tuchel's squad selection for the upcoming matches, essentially as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would certainly handle with ease.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the team were interested in me for a while and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and nothing would change with whatever coach was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"There were a lot of players leaving 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 developed 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 getting results and avoiding defeats that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to depart from his long-time club, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the league cup triumph over their London rivals in the previous season when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his numbers from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my professional development," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you require match experience and I'm will require hundreds of games 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 world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will look under that and see I can continue developing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a grin, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It proved a really valuable chapter in my development because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's when I understood how valuable experience and playing games was. You could say it informed my choice in the off-season."