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"From the outside, it seems crazy," the young defender remarks, as he looks back on his recent summer, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a club where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a host of star performers were departing or already left – chief among them several high-profile names, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, established players and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the central defender found the net after the opening 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 executed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

"To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after five minutes, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Early Challenges

The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at the German club. From the promising start in their first league game, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the following game on August 30th was just as bad. The squad threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the conversation he gave after being selected for the national team for the international friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has established consistency. His team have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with draws in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is something that the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a admirer last season, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and within the squad environment because he was selected at the beginning in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is another thing he would certainly take in his stride.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not just from the coach," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So understanding it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with which manager was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"We had a lot of players leaving and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have developed 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 avoiding defeats that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in the previous season when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of last season's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the one he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the league, his limited playing time falling short compared to his statistics from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"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 require match experience and I'm will require extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was regular playing opportunities and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence 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 the lower division club in the later part of that season where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a grin, beginning with his first game; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It proved a extremely important part of my career because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Each match I gained fresh insights. That's when I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could suggest it informed my choice in the off-season."