🔗 Share this article

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

A Quick Recap

Days after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee brought high expectations as the young defender was charged with settling in in a new country and at a team where the churn was substantial. The new manager had taken over to succeed Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after five minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by tragedy. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after the opening moments, is certainly a whirlwind," Quansah states. "However, my dominant emotion 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. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the next match on 30 August was just as bad. Ten Hag's team threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If composure defines his game, it was evident during the conversation he gave after joining the national team for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the club – play. The new manager has brought stability. His squad have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with draws in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a more significant number 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.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has noted. 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 September when John Stones 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 named at the outset in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is another thing he would certainly handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the club were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "They were interested before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of internal decision and nothing would change with whatever coach was to take over ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"We had a lot of players departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the results we have had recently show that we have developed a good squad with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a good place to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in the previous season when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the one he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on multiple matches in the competition, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his statistics from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off some of the best players around me at my former club and it's been incredibly beneficial for my career," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you need games and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was regular playing opportunities and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it's not promised because there are world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I could errors at times but they will look under that and see I can continue developing and improving."

Foundation Building

Quansah recalls his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the later part of that season where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a grin, beginning with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the next step to playing first-team football. Every game I learned something new. That's when I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the off-season."