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"From the outside, it seems insane," Jarell Quansah says, as he looks back on his summer just gone, when rapid transformation felt like a constant. "But it is one of them ... football is a unpredictable game."

A Quick Recap

Shortly after winning the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the conclusion of June, Quansah decided to leave Liverpool, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with settling in in a foreign land and at a club where the churn was substantial. The new manager had taken over to replace the previous coach and a number of star performers were departing or already left – including Florian Wirtz, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, established players and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on 23 August at home to their opponents and the central defender scored after the opening minutes, though the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed Jota's gamer celebration as a mark of respect.

"To have a goal on your Bundesliga debut, at home, after the opening moments, is definitely a whirlwind," Quansah states. "But my overwhelming feeling was that it was a tribute to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The defender could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to at Leverkusen. From the promising start in their first league game, they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat and the following game on 30 August was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team threw away comfortable advantages to finish level at their reduced opponents, the tying goal coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. 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 on show during the interview he gave after being selected for England for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

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 – play. Hjulmand has brought stability. His team have positive results in four league matches along with draws in each of their European matches. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

National Team Attention

It is something that the England head coach has noted. The national team manager was a fan last season, selecting Quansah when he announced his initial selection. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could focus on the youth tournament, he gave him a late call-up in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his first cap, Quansah must have done something right in training and around the camp because he was selected at the outset in Tuchel's squad selection for Wales and Latvia, essentially 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.

Career Choices

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

"There were 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] show 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 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 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 late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of last season's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the perspective he would have preferred. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the league, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his numbers from the prior season when he started nine games.

Professional Growth

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been incredibly beneficial for my professional development," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you require match experience and I'm will require extensive playing time to be at my desired level.

"I just wanted regular playing opportunities 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 could errors at certain moments but they will see beyond that and see I can continue developing and improving."

Early Experience

Quansah recalls his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the later part of that season where he debuted at professional level – multiple matches, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a grin, beginning with his debut; a heavy loss at Morecambe.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I aimed to take the subsequent progression to playing first-team football. Each match I learned something new. That's when I knew how valuable experience and playing games was. You could say it influenced my choice in the summer."