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

A Quick Recap

Shortly after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to go to the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The big fee equalled big pressure as the young defender was tasked with finding his feet in a new country and at a team where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of star performers were gone or going – including several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, established players and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the central defender found the net after five minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"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 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 equaliser coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he participated in after joining England for the international friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the team – play. Hjulmand 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 broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the fact that demonstrates he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is something that the England head coach has observed. The England head coach was a admirer last season, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After omitting him in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the Under-21 European Championship, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

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

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the club were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested 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 make that decision.

"We had a numerous squad members 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 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 begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many memorable moments – 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 competition, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his numbers from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been so good for my career," he says. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was game time 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 could errors at times but they will see beyond that and recognize I can keep pushing 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 exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a smile, starting with his debut; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It was a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Each match I learned something new. That's where I understood how crucial practical knowledge and playing games was. You could say it influenced my decision in the summer."