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"From the outside, it appears insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a crazy game."

A Brief Summary

Days after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with England at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum brought high expectations as the young defender was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was dramatic. The new manager had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, established players and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at home to Hoffenheim and the central defender scored after the opening minutes, though the achievement was undercut by tragedy. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer 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 whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at the German club. After the encouraging beginning in their first league game, they fell to a narrow loss and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. The squad threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. He was sacked on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the conversation he gave after being selected for the national team for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the team – compete. The new manager has brought stability. His squad have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with draws in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, 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 Thomas Tuchel has observed. The national team manager was a admirer previously, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in practice sessions and around the camp because he was named at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for the upcoming matches, essentially as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is another thing he would surely take in his stride.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the team were interested in me for a while and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of internal decision and things would remain consistent with which manager was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"There were a lot of players leaving and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had recently demonstrate that we have developed a good squad with quality players. It is requiring patience to build and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a good place to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in the previous season when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the league, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his statistics from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I consistently developed off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, 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 team like Liverpool, it's not guaranteed because there are world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes at times but they will see beyond that and see I can continue developing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his temporary transfer 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 "multiple reality checks", he notes with a grin, starting with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It was a really valuable part of my career because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's when I understood how crucial practical knowledge and playing games was. You could say it influenced my choice in the summer."