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"From the outside, it seems insane," the young defender says, as he looks back 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

Shortly after claiming victory in the U21 European Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to go to the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The big fee brought big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a foreign land and at a club where the churn was substantial. The new manager had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a host of star performers were departing or already left – chief among them several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at home to their opponents and the centre-half found the net after the opening minutes, though the goal was undercut by tragedy. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after five minutes, is certainly a rollercoaster," Quansah states. "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 narrow loss 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 no longer his responsibility for very long. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the conversation he participated in after being selected for England for the international friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has brought stability. His squad have positive results in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their European matches. But there is a more significant number that motivates the player, 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 one that the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a admirer last season, including him when he announced his initial selection. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could focus on the Under-21 European Championship, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in September when the experienced defender 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, effectively as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The dream is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"At Leverkusen, the team were interested in me for a while and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So understanding it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to choose this path.

"We had a lot of players leaving and it's always tough when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have developed a good squad with quality players. It is going to take time to build and we are still progressing. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a good place to begin from."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the league cup triumph over their London rivals in the previous season when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also involved in last season's domestic championship success. Yet his view of much of that was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on multiple matches in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his numbers from the prior season 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 professional development," he says. "But as a young centre-back, you need games and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be at my desired level.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a top-level club, it's not promised because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at times but they will see beyond that and recognize I can keep pushing and pushing."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his loan to League One Bristol Rovers in the later part of that season where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a grin, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It was a extremely important part of my career because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's where I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could say it informed my choice in the off-season."