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Jarrell Kwansa hopefully liverpool Bayer will fast-track his development for Leverkusen – and that his long-awaited England The debut is much better than his “eye-opening” first senior appearance.
The 22-year-old is yet to make his international bow despite being called up to Gareth Southgate’s provisional Euro 2024 squad 16 months ago, then being selected by lee carsleyas interim boss, and Thomas Tuchel.
Kwansa has played a role in every camp since the German took the sidelines in June, when the centre-back helped England win the Under-21 European Championship.
A long-term £35 million move from Liverpool, where he came through the youth system, was quickly followed by his departure after the final Premier League Champions in search of regular football.
“I just wanted to progress,” said the uncapped Kwansa. “As a young centre-back, you need the game to improve.
“I’m always learning from some of the best players around me at the time at Liverpool, and being able to do that has been great for my career.
“I’m 22, turning 23 (in January), I’m going to need hundreds of games to get where I want to be at the end of the day.
“I think overall that’s why this decision was made and why I felt it was best for me to go abroad.”
Kwansa wants to play regular Champions League football and test himself at the highest level as the ambitious defender looks to build on winning the Under-21 Euros.
That triumph in Slovakia—where they also won the Under-19 Euros in 2022—was “massive from a confidence point of view” for a player who had just taken his first steps into senior football at Bristol Rovers.
Kwansa joined Joey Barton’s League One side for the second half of the 2022–23 season, after his loan spell began with a 5–1 defeat away at Morecambe.
“A real eye-opener,” he said with a laugh. “It was a very interesting match because in general the feeling of the team we felt we were really okay.
“But I think we conceded five shots and it was five goals. It was one of those games, so seeing that that can happen in a football game was eye-opening.
“But hopefully (when I make my England debut) it will be better than that!”
Kwansa is still in touch with some of his former Rovers team-mates, some of whom he has gone on holiday with, and reflects fondly on that important loan.
“A lot of wake-up calls,” he said of that 16-game stint. “It was a really, really valuable part of my career.
“I remember coming away and every game I learned something new. And probably for the first time in my career to that point where I thought.
“That’s where I knew how valuable experience and playing the game was and you could say it informed my decisions in the summer as well.”