🔗 Share this article Leverkusen's Quansah Keeps Calm and Continues Onward in His Steady Rise to Football Fame "From the outside, it seems crazy," the young defender says, as he looks back on his recent summer, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a crazy game." A Quick Recap Shortly after winning the U21 European Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to go to the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal. The significant transfer sum equalled big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a team where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had stepped in to succeed Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were gone or going – including Florian Wirtz, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, prominent athletes, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders. League Introduction Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the centre-half found the net after five minutes, albeit the achievement was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect. "To have a goal on your first Bundesliga match, at home, after five minutes, is certainly a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo." Initial Struggles The player could have been forgiven for wondering what he had committed to at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their first league game, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. He was sacked on 1 September. Staying Focused Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If composure defines his game, it was evident during the interview he gave after joining England for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia. Quansah has kept his head down under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he always intended to do at the club – compete. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with ties in each of their Champions League ties. 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 something that the England head coach has observed. The England head coach was a fan last season, including him when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the Under-21 European Championship, he gave him a late call-up in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out. Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and around the camp because he was selected at the outset in the manager's squad selection for the upcoming matches, effectively as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The aspiration is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride. Career Choices "With my new club, the club were interested in me for a while and that's not only from the coach," Quansah explains. "Their interest existed prior to his arrival. So understanding it was a type of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to take over ... it was easy for me to choose this path. "There were a lot of players departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate that we have developed a competitive team with talented individuals. It is going to take time to build and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and avoiding defeats that is a solid foundation to start." Liverpool Departure It had to have been a wrench for Quansah to depart from his long-time club, 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 came on as an extra-time substitute. 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 chosen. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the competition, his limited playing time comparing unfavourably with his numbers from 2023‑24 when he started nine games. Career Development "I consistently developed off top-level professionals 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 guaranteed because there are world-class players all over the pitch. I wanted somewhere where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes at times but they will see beyond that and recognize I can continue developing and pushing." Early Experience Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a smile, beginning with his first game; a 5-1 defeat at their opponents. "That was a true eye-opener," Quansah reflects. "It proved a really valuable part of my career because I aimed to take the next step to playing first-team football. Every game I learned something new. That's when I understood how valuable experience and match practice was. You could suggest it informed my decision in the summer."