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"From the outside, it seems crazy," the young defender 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 Brief Summary

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee equalled high expectations as the 22-year-old was tasked with finding his feet in a new country and at a club where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the central defender scored after five minutes, though the goal was overshadowed by tragedy. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a tribute.

"Scoring on your Bundesliga debut, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "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 signed up for at the German club. After the encouraging beginning in their opening league fixture, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the following game on 30 August was just as bad. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to finish level at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for very long. He was sacked on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If calmness defines his game, it was on show during the interview he gave after being selected for the national team for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the club – play. The new manager has brought stability. His team have three wins and one draw in four league matches 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 been ever-present of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The national team manager was a fan last season, including him when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in the autumn when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment because he was named at the outset in the manager's 24‑man group for the upcoming matches, effectively as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would surely take in his stride.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not only from the coach," Quansah says. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a type of organizational choice and nothing would change with which manager was to take over ... it was easy 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 tough to build the leadership groups but the outcomes we have had recently show that we have developed a competitive team with talented individuals. It is requiring patience to build and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a good place to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many memorable moments – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of last season's domestic championship success. Yet his view of much of that was not the one he would have chosen. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the league, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his numbers from 2023‑24 when he started nine games.

Career Development

"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 extensive playing time to be where I want to be.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities 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 look under that and see I can continue developing and improving."

Early Experience

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 precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a smile, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It proved a extremely important chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's when I knew how crucial experience and match practice was. You could say it influenced my choice in the summer."