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"To an observer, it seems crazy," Jarell Quansah remarks, as he reflects 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

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with England at the conclusion of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to go to the Bundesliga side in a multi-million pound transfer.

The significant transfer sum equalled big pressure as the 22-year-old was charged with finding his feet in a new country and at a team where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had taken over to replace the previous coach and a number of key players were departing or already left – including several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

League Introduction

Quansah's first league appearance came on August 23rd at home to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after five minutes, albeit the achievement was overshadowed by sadness. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was killed in a car accident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a tribute.

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

Early Challenges

The player could have been excused for questioning what he had committed to at the German club. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they succumbed to a narrow loss and the following game on August 30th was just as bad. The squad threw away comfortable advantages to draw 3-3 at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. He was sacked on 1 September.

Staying Focused

Quansah does not come across as the type to fret. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the conversation he participated in after joining the national team for the Wembley friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, the Danish tactician, and continued to do what he originally planned to do at the team – play. Hjulmand has established consistency. His squad have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with draws 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 team's season.

International Recognition

It is one that the England head coach has observed. The national team manager was a fan previously, including him when he named his first squad. After omitting him in June so that Quansah could concentrate on the Under-21 European Championship, he provided him with a last-minute inclusion in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Yet to earn his first cap, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and around the camp because he was selected at the outset in Tuchel's 24‑man group for the upcoming matches, effectively as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The dream is a debut. It is one more milestone he would surely take in his stride.

Career Choices

"At Leverkusen, the club were interested in me for a while and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested before he got appointed. So understanding it was a sort of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with whatever coach was to come in ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"There were a numerous squad members leaving and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been tough to establish new hierarchies but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] demonstrate 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 not losing that is a solid foundation to start."

Liverpool Departure

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his team since childhood, where he enjoyed so many significant occasions – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in the previous season when he came on as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his perspective of most of that achievement was not the one he would have chosen. He was an non-playing reserve on 25 occasions in the league, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his statistics from the prior season when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I've always learned off some of the best players around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my professional development," he says. "However, for a developing defender, you need games and I'm will require hundreds of games 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 throughout the squad. I wanted an environment where they can have confidence that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will look under that and see I can keep pushing and pushing."

Early Experience

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the later part of that season where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he says with a smile, beginning with his debut; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That was a genuine revelation," Quansah says. "It was a really valuable 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 understood how crucial experience and playing games was. You could say it influenced my choice in the off-season."