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

A Brief Summary

Shortly after winning the U21 European Championship with the English national team 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 young defender was tasked with settling in in a foreign land and at a club where the churn was dramatic. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were departing or already left – including several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after five minutes, though the goal was undercut by tragedy. His primary thought was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed his teammate's signature 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 rollercoaster," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their first league game, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the next match on August 30th was just as bad. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in stoppage time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If composure defines his game, it was on show during the interview he participated in after joining the national team for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the club – play. Hjulmand has established consistency. His team 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 motivates the player, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the one which shows he has been ever-present of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The national team manager was a admirer previously, including him when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was forced to withdraw.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and around the camp 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 dream is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So knowing it was a sort of internal decision and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a numerous squad members departing and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had recently demonstrate that we have got a competitive team with quality players. It is requiring patience to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation 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 extra-time substitute.

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 non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the competition, his limited playing time falling short compared to his numbers from the prior season when he started nine games.

Career Development

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm going to be needing extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted 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 somewhere where they can have confidence that I could errors at times but they will see beyond that and see I can continue developing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his loan to the lower division club in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a smile, beginning with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important part of my career because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's when I understood how valuable experience and playing games was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the summer."