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"To an observer, it seems crazy," Jarell Quansah says, as he reflects on his recent summer, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Quick Recap

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

The significant transfer sum equalled big pressure as the young defender was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the turnover was substantial. Erik ten Hag had taken over to succeed the previous coach and a number of star performers were departing or already left – chief among them several high-profile names, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at home to their opponents and the central defender found the net after five minutes, though the goal was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed 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 rollercoaster," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The player could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at the German club. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the tying goal 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 characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the conversation he participated in after being selected for the national team for the Wembley friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the team – play. Hjulmand has brought stability. His team have positive results 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 played every minute of the team's season.

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 omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in September when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

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

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the club were keen on signing me for a while and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So understanding it was a type of internal decision and nothing would change with whatever coach was to come in ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"There were a numerous squad members departing and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have got a good squad with talented individuals. It is going to take time to build and we are still progressing. 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 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 Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the one he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the league, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his numbers from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my career," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you need games and I'm will require 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 guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted an environment where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will look under that and see I can keep pushing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a grin, beginning with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It proved a extremely important part of my career because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I learned something new. That's when I knew how crucial practical knowledge and match practice was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the off-season."