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"From the outside, it seems 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 Brief Summary

Days after winning the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to join the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee brought big pressure as the young defender was charged with settling in in a new country and at a team where the turnover was substantial. Erik ten Hag had taken over to succeed Xabi Alonso and a host of star performers were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the central defender found the net after five minutes, though the goal was overshadowed by sadness. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Early Challenges

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 next match on August 30th was just as bad. Ten Hag's team threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to finish level at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. He was sacked on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If composure defines his game, it was evident during the conversation he gave after joining England for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has established consistency. His team have positive results in their domestic campaign along with ties 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 one which shows he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is one that the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a admirer last season, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment because he was named at the beginning in the manager's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The dream is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would certainly handle with ease.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the team were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of organizational choice and nothing would change with whatever coach was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a numerous squad members leaving and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have got a good squad with talented individuals. 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 begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in the previous season when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view 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 limited playing time falling short compared to his statistics from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

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 says. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing extensive playing time to be where I want to be.

"I just wanted game time and when you are at a top-level club, it's not guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will look under that and see I can keep pushing and pushing."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls 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 says with a grin, beginning with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It was a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the next step to playing first-team football. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's when I knew how crucial practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it influenced my choice in the summer."