Jarell Quansah has laughed off suggestions that Liverpool are facing a mini-crisis after suffering three defeats in a row. The Premier League champions were stung by Chelsea on Saturday evening, having suffered narrow defeats at Galatasaray and Crystal Palace. It has led to pundits criticising Arne Slot’s approach, with Jamie Carragher claiming “it is far too easy to get at Liverpool”.
But Quansah, who is part of the England squad that will face Wales in a Wembley friendly on Thursday, smiled when asked if he was worried about Liverpool’s blip.
The 22-year-old defender said: “I’m not part of Liverpool any more. I’m not behind the scenes. I don’t know what is going on or anything like that but what I do know is it was an unbelievable team last season so it is not going to change much in a few months. That is all I can say on that.”
Liverpool were expected to replace Quansah with Marc Guehi but the Crystal Palace skipper’s move to Anfield fell through at the last minute. It has left some observers wondering if Liverpool were too hasty in selling Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen for £35million in the summer.
But the player himself explained that he felt compelled to leave Anfield because of a lack of consistent opportunities. And a return to Merseyside is not on his mind, even though Liverpool had a £51million buy-back clause – which can be activated in the summer of 2027 – inserted into the deal that took Quansah to the Bundesliga.
When asked about that clause, Quansah said: “I play for Leverkusen and I’m not in a position where I think I can just jump straight back in and be the best player in the world and solve every problem.
“I’m still young and I’m still going to make mistakes. The quicker I iron them out the quicker I can feel really, really confident with my own ability and know exactly the player I am because I still don’t exactly know that yet. I’ll only get that by playing more games.
“That’s what I’m set up to do at the moment.”
Quansah – who is still waiting for his first England cap despite being in several squads – has made a promising start to his career with Leverkusen, who sacked Erik ten Hag after only two league matches but lie fifth in the Bundesliga table. And he admitted the security of knowing he would be a regular starter was the reason behind his decision to leave Liverpool.
Asked why he chose Leverkusen, Quansah said: “It was knowing I could play at a really high level with top players and play in the Champions League on a regular basis. If you try and move to another top Premier League side, you might not be playing in the Champions League.
“It’s been good for myself to make that step and go abroad because I just wanted game time and when you are at a team like Liverpool, it’s not promised because there are world class players all over the pitch.
“I just wanted somewhere where they can trust that I might make mistakes at times but they will look under that and see I can keep pushing and pushing.”
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