Jarell Quansah: The Run on the Right and a Four-Way Auction

In August 2026, Jarell Quansah left Anfield. There was no send-off, no large headline. He joined Bayer Leverkusen for 35 million euros, departing less like a prized asset and more like a young player who needed minutes. In his first season in Germany, coach Kasper Hjulmand deployed him at centre-back — the position he was raised to occupy. This season, new coach Carles Martinez has pushed him out to right-back, where anonymous runs are often forgotten between the stands. Before anyone becomes a name, they are only a run. And that run down the right flank is now making all of Europe turn its head.

According to a report by Sport Bild, Leverkusen's chances of keeping the England international beyond next summer are looking increasingly slim. Much of it comes down to strong interest from abroad in the 23-year-old. Real Madrid are said to have joined the race. The Spanish giants are still looking for defensive reinforcements for 2027, as both Antonio Rüdiger and Éder Militão could leave the club. Quansah is said to be one of the preferred candidates of coach Jose Mourinho.

But the story does not end in Madrid. Premier League heavyweights have also set their sights on the versatile defender. Liverpool, who sold Quansah to Leverkusen in the summer of 2026 for 35 million euros, reportedly hold a buy-back clause that can be activated in 2027 for 70 million euros. The deadline to activate the clause is 15 June 2027. According to Bild, the Reds could well trigger their option and bring Quansah back to England. Even so, there is no guarantee the defender will play at Anfield in the 2027/28 season. Liverpool could also sell him on immediately for a profit.

Chelsea and Arsenal are also in the frame. The Gunners tried to lure Quansah away last summer, but Bayer Leverkusen blocked the move. Arsenal allegedly offered 65 million euros, but Leverkusen rated the Englishman's sporting value too highly and rejected it. The player himself accepted the veto. Chelsea are said to have already enquired about the 23-year-old. A bidding war, should it happen, could push the fee for Leverkusen even higher.

What makes Quansah a target for so many giants is not his goals. In 50 competitive appearances across all competitions for the Werkself, he has scored five and provided one assist — a quiet record, fitting for a defensive player. What clubs see is his above-average height and technical ability. Xabi Alonso is said to rate Quansah particularly highly because of those two qualities. In modern football, a tall centre-back who still handles the ball cleanly is a scarce commodity, and scarcity is always expensive.

Versatility is what drives his price up. Last season, Hjulmand used him mainly at centre-back. This season, Carles Martinez has pulled him out to the right flank. For a centre-back, moving to the wing is not simply a change of position. It is a test of turning ability, of recovery pace, of the crossing a big man is rarely trained to produce. When a club needs a defender who can fill both the middle and the right, they are buying flexibility, not a fixed position.

I have spent long hours watching footage of young defenders played out of position. Based on my experience following matches, the most telling detail is not the good moments but the hesitation — the half-second of doubt before deciding to step up or drop off. A centre-back pushed to the right flank usually loses exactly that half-second in the opening minutes, and opponents need only that much time to exploit it. This season Quansah must relearn how to stand, how to scan, how to time his moves. He is rewriting his instincts, not merely playing a new role.

On the market, that flexibility is priced in cold cash. Liverpool sold him for 35 million euros and now hold a buy-back at 70 million euros — double in barely two years. The buy-back clause is a financial instrument, an option the club holds, rather than a promise. It lets the Reds control the future of an asset they let go, precisely when that asset's value peaks. For Liverpool, it is a way to keep the power of decision without carrying the wages and the matchday pressure for two years.

Leverkusen, meanwhile, are in a reactive position but not a weak one. They rejected 65 million euros from Arsenal because they believe Quansah's sporting value is higher still. If Real Madrid, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal all enter a bidding war, the final fee could far exceed any forecast, and Leverkusen would be the biggest beneficiary. It is a familiar lesson: a mid-tier Bundesliga club can turn an outright purchase into a money-making machine, provided it is patient enough.

For Real Madrid, the need is real and somewhat urgent. Rüdiger and Militão have both entered a phase where every passing season leaves a mark. When a big club must refresh its defence, it usually seeks two profiles: an established name to start immediately, and a young, versatile player to rotate. Quansah sits in the second category, but with the potential to rise into the first. That Mourinho is said to have placed him on the priority list suggests he sees a defender who can withstand the pressure of the Bernabéu — where every mistake is examined under a magnifying glass.

For Arsenal, the interest predates this window. They once placed 65 million euros on the table and were turned down. A club returning after being blocked shows it views Quansah not as a stopgap but as a long-term piece. Chelsea, with a tradition of spending heavily on young signings, are hardly standing aside. Four giants, four different motives, all looking at a 23-year-old defender currently playing right-back because his club needs him there.

But there is another angle few want to face directly. The story of the "returning son" to Anfield is a beautiful way to tell it, and also a way to conceal. Liverpool would not trigger the buy-back out of sentiment. They would trigger it out of interest. If they bring Quansah home and immediately sell him to another club for more, the deal would be called smart investment — no one would call it betrayal. A transfer is how we name a separation so it sounds less like a separation.

And amid those sums, there is a person. Quansah accepted Leverkusen's veto when Arsenal came calling. He is not the one deciding where he lives, which position he plays, or which shirt he wears. He runs at right-back because the coach needs him there. He stays at Leverkusen because the club needs him to stay. His versatility — the very quality that makes him valuable — is also what keeps him from ever truly belonging in one place. A defender who can play anywhere is a defender who can be placed anywhere.

The irony is that this very adaptability feeds his uncertainty. Every time Quansah performs well in a new position, his value rises, and the door out opens wider. The more useful a player becomes, the easier he is to trade. This is the quiet paradox of modern football: stability is not a reward for talent but the rarest of things, and it is usually traded away for profit.

When the summer of 2027 arrives and the 15 June deadline closes, a contract will be signed, a sum will change hands, a headline will be written. But behind all of it will still stand a 25-year-old facing a question no market can answer: where, in the end, is home? A good match is never fully told; it only waits for someone quiet enough to listen.