Bayer Leverkusen's Jarell Quansah Remains Composed and Continues Onward in His Gradual Ascent to Stardom

"To an observer, it seems crazy," 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 Brief Summary

Days after winning the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah decided to leave his childhood club, to join Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

The significant transfer sum equalled high expectations as the young defender was tasked with settling in in a new country and at a club where the turnover was substantial. The new manager had stepped in to replace Xabi Alonso and a number of key players were gone or going – chief among them several high-profile names, Piero Hincapié, Jeremie Frimpong, Amine Adli, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and team leaders.

Bundesliga Debut

Quansah's Bundesliga debut came on August 23rd at their home ground to Hoffenheim and the centre-half scored after five minutes, albeit the goal was undercut by sadness. All he could think about was his former Liverpool teammate, who was tragically lost in a road incident. Quansah performed his teammate's signature celebration as a mark of respect.

"Scoring on your first Bundesliga match, in front of home fans, after five minutes, 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 signed up for at the German club. From the promising start in their opening league fixture, they fell to a narrow loss and the following game on 30 August was just as bad. The squad threw away 2-0 and 3-1 leads to draw 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen, the equaliser coming in added time. It was no longer his responsibility for very long. His dismissal came on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the type to fret. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the conversation he gave after being selected for the national team for the Wembley friendly against their rivals and the qualifying match against their next opponents.

Quansah has remained focused under the new Leverkusen manager, the Danish tactician, and persisted in doing what he originally planned to do at the team – compete. Hjulmand has brought stability. His squad have three wins and one draw in their domestic campaign along with ties in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that motivates the player, even bringing a measure of vindication. It is the one which shows he has played every minute of the club's campaign.

International Recognition

It is something that Thomas Tuchel has observed. The national team manager was a fan last season, including him when he named his first squad. After leaving him out in the summer so that Quansah could concentrate on the youth tournament, he gave him a last-minute inclusion in September when John Stones was forced to withdraw.

Yet to earn his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in practice sessions and around the camp because he was named at the beginning in Tuchel's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a fifth centre-back with Stones fit again. The dream is a debut. It is one more milestone he would certainly take in his stride.

Career Choices

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not just from the coach," Quansah says. "Their interest existed before he got appointed. So knowing it was a type of internal decision and nothing would change with which manager was to take over ... it was straightforward for me to make that decision.

"There were a lot of players departing and it's consistently challenging when you lose key players. It has been tough to build the leadership groups but the results we have had recently show that we have got a good squad with talented individuals. It is going to take time to develop and we are still progressing. But if we are achieving positive outcomes and not losing that is a solid foundation to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

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 experienced so many memorable moments – such as the league cup triumph over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an extra-time substitute.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's Premier League title triumph. Yet his perspective of much of that was not the one he would have preferred. He was an unused substitute on 25 occasions in the competition, his four starts and nine appearances comparing unfavourably with his numbers from 2023‑24 when he featured more regularly.

Career Development

"I consistently developed off top-level professionals around me at Liverpool and it's been so good for my career," 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 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 have confidence that I could errors at certain moments but they will look under that and recognize I can continue developing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to League One Bristol Rovers in the second-half of 2022-23 where he debuted at professional level – 16 of them, to be precise. There were "multiple reality checks", he says with a grin, starting with his debut; a 5-1 defeat at Morecambe.

"That represented a true eye-opener," Quansah says. "It was a extremely important chapter in my development because I wanted to make the subsequent progression to regular senior competition. Every game I gained fresh insights. That's where I understood how crucial practical knowledge and playing games was. You could say it influenced my choice in the summer."