Bayer Leverkusen's Quansah Keeps Calm and Continues Onward in His Gradual Ascent to Football Fame

"From the outside, it appears crazy," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back on his recent summer, when dizzying change felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to go to Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought big pressure as the young defender was charged with finding his feet in a new country and at a club where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had taken over to succeed the previous coach and a host of star performers were gone or going – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, established players and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half found the net after the opening minutes, though the goal was undercut by sadness. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after the opening moments, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Early Challenges

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 succumbed to a narrow loss and the following game on August 30th was equally disappointing. The squad threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the tying goal coming in stoppage time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the interview he participated in after joining the national team for the Wembley friendly against their rivals and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

Quansah has kept his head down under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the team – 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 broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the one which shows he has been ever-present of the club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The national team manager was a fan previously, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in June so that Quansah could focus on the Under-21 European Championship, he gave him a late call-up 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 beginning in Tuchel's 24‑man group for the upcoming matches, effectively as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The dream is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would certainly handle with ease.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a considerable time and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of internal decision and things would remain consistent with which manager was to take over ... it was easy for me to choose this path.

"We had a numerous squad members departing and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the results we have had recently show that we have developed a competitive team with talented individuals. It is going to take time to build and we are still progressing. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and avoiding defeats that is a solid foundation to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his club from the age of five, where he experienced so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he came on as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his view of most of that achievement was not the one he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances falling short compared to his numbers from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm will require hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

"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 trust that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will look under that and recognize I can continue developing and pushing."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a grin, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It was a really valuable chapter in my development because I wanted to make the next step to regular senior competition. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's where I understood how valuable experience and playing games was. You could suggest it influenced my choice in the off-season."