🔗 Share this article

"To an observer, it seems insane," the young defender says, 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 European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee equalled high expectations as the young defender was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a club where the turnover was dramatic. The new manager had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were departing or already left – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, established players and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the central defender found the net after five minutes, though the goal was undercut by sadness. 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, at home, after five minutes, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at the German club. From the promising start 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 finish level at their reduced opponents, 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 type to fret. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the conversation he participated in after joining England for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, Kasper Hjulmand, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has brought stability. His team have positive results in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that motivates the player, 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 one that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The England head coach was a fan last season, selecting Quansah when he named his first squad. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he provided him with a late call-up in the autumn when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his first cap, 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 Wales and Latvia, effectively as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The dream is a first appearance. It is another thing he would surely handle with ease.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not just from the coach," Quansah explains. "They were interested before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of organizational choice and nothing would change with which manager was to come in ... it was easy 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 [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have got a good squad with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and avoiding defeats that is a solid foundation to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he experienced so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the competition, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his statistics from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been so good for my career," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience 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 promised because there are elite performers throughout the squad. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at certain moments but they will see beyond that and see I can continue developing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club 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 smile, beginning with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I learned something new. That's where I knew how crucial practical knowledge and match practice was. You could say it informed my decision in the off-season."