Bayer Leverkusen's Quansah Keeps Calm and Continues Onward in His Steady Rise to Football Fame

"To an observer, it appears crazy," the young defender says, as he reflects on his summer just gone, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "However, that's just how it goes ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after winning the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to join the Bundesliga side 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 team where the churn was substantial. Erik ten Hag had taken over to replace Xabi Alonso and a host of key players were departing or already left – chief among them Florian Wirtz, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, established players and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on 23 August at their home ground to their opponents and the centre-half scored after the opening minutes, albeit the achievement was overshadowed by tragedy. His primary thought was Diogo Jota, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah executed Jota's gamer celebration as a tribute.

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

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at the German club. From the promising start in their first league game, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on August 30th was just as bad. The squad squandered comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. His dismissal came on September 1st.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the kind to worry. If calmness characterizes his playing style, it was evident during the conversation he gave after being selected for England for the international friendly against Wales and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia.

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. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw 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 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 the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a admirer last season, including him when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in September when John Stones was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his international debut, Quansah must have done something right in training and around the camp because he was named at the outset in the manager's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, effectively as a fifth centre-back with the regular starter returning. The aspiration is a first appearance. It is one more milestone he would surely take in his stride.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the club were interested in me for a while and that's not just from the coach," Quansah explains. "They were interested prior to his arrival. So knowing it was a sort of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with which manager was to come in ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"There were a lot of players leaving and it's consistently challenging when you see important figures leave. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the outcomes we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have got a competitive team with quality players. It is requiring patience to develop and we are not where we want to be. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and avoiding defeats that is a good place to begin from."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave his long-time club, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over their London rivals in the previous season when he was introduced as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of last season's Premier League title triumph. Yet his view of much of that was not the perspective he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the competition, his limited playing time falling short compared to his statistics from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I've always learned off top-level professionals around me at my former club and it's been so good for my career," he comments. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm going to be needing hundreds of games to be where I want to be.

"My primary desire was game time and when you are at a top-level club, it's not guaranteed because there are world-class players throughout the squad. I wanted somewhere where they can trust that I could errors at certain moments 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 second-half of 2022-23 where he made his first senior appearances – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "multiple reality checks", he notes with a smile, beginning with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That was a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important part of my career because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I learned something new. That's where I knew how valuable experience and match practice was. You could suggest it informed my decision in the summer."