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"To an observer, it seems crazy," 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 crazy game."

A Brief Summary

Shortly after claiming victory in the European Under-21 Championship with the English national team at the end of June, Quansah opted to depart from Liverpool, to join the Bundesliga side in a £30m deal.

The big fee brought high expectations as the 22-year-old was tasked with finding his feet in a new country and at a club where the turnover was substantial. Erik ten Hag had taken over to replace the previous coach and a host of key players were departing or already left – including several high-profile names, key squad members, influential figures, prominent athletes, experienced professionals, Lukas Hradecky and Jonathan Tah.

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, 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 tribute.

"To have a goal on your Bundesliga debut, at home, after five minutes, is definitely a rollercoaster," Quansah says. "However, my dominant emotion was that it was a homage to Diogo."

Initial Struggles

The player could have been excused for questioning what he had signed up for at the German club. After the encouraging beginning in their first league game, they fell to a 2-1 defeat and the next match on 30 August was equally disappointing. Ten Hag's team squandered comfortable advantages to finish level at their reduced opponents, the equaliser coming in added time. It was not Ten Hag's team for much longer. He was sacked on 1 September.

Maintaining Composure

Quansah doesn't appear to be the kind to worry. If composure characterizes his playing style, it was on show during the conversation he participated in after joining England for the international friendly against Wales and the qualifying match against Latvia.

Quansah has remained focused under the current coach, Kasper Hjulmand, and continued to do what he always intended to do at the club – play. Hjulmand has brought stability. His team have three wins and one draw in four league matches along with draws in each of their Champions League ties. But there is a broader statistic that encourages Quansah, even bringing a sense of justification. It is the fact that demonstrates he has been ever-present of the team's season.

National Team Attention

It is one that Thomas Tuchel has noted. The England head coach was a admirer 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 provided him with a late call-up in September when the experienced defender was compelled to pull out.

Still to win his international debut, Quansah must have impressed sufficiently in training and within the squad environment because he was selected at the beginning in the manager's 24‑man group for Wales and Latvia, essentially as a additional defensive option with the regular starter returning. The dream is a debut. It is one more milestone he would surely handle with ease.

Decision Making

"With my new club, the team were keen on signing me for a considerable time and that's not just from the manager [Ten Hag]," Quansah says. "They were interested before he got appointed. So knowing it was a sort of organizational choice and things would remain consistent with which manager was to take over ... it was easy for me to make that decision.

"We had a lot of players leaving and it's always tough when you lose key players. It has been difficult to build the leadership groups but the results we have had [under Hjulmand] show that we have got a competitive team with talented individuals. It is going to take time to develop and we are not where we want to be. But if we are getting results and not losing that is a good place to start."

Leaving Childhood Club

It had to have been a difficult separation for Quansah to leave Liverpool, his club from the age of five, where he enjoyed so many memorable moments – such as the Carabao Cup final victory over Chelsea in 2023‑24 when he was introduced as an late replacement.

Quansah was also a part of the previous campaign's domestic championship success. Yet his view of much of that was not the one 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 2023‑24 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 career," he says. "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 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 an environment where they can trust that I might make mistakes at certain moments but they will see beyond that and recognize I can keep pushing and pushing."

Foundation Building

Quansah remembers his temporary transfer to the lower division club in the later part of that season where he made his first senior appearances – 16 of them, to be exact. There were "numerous wake-up calls", he notes with a smile, starting with his first game; a heavy loss at their opponents.

"That represented a genuine revelation," Quansah reflects. "It was a really valuable chapter in my development because I aimed to take the next step to playing first-team football. Each match I learned something new. That's where I understood how valuable practical knowledge and playing games was. You could say it informed my choice in the summer."