Quansah: World Cup spot is an honour

Jarrell Quansah says his call-up to England’s FIFA World Cup 2026 call-up is an ‘absolute honour’ after improving his international hopes with a move abroad last summer.

The defender made the difficult decision to leave boyhood club Liverpool in the search of more regular minutes in 2025, choosing to join German giants Bayer Leverkusen.

Quansah impressed Three Lions’ head coach Thomas Tuchel with his displays in the Bundesliga and the Champions League as Leverkusen finished sixth in the league and reached the last 16 of Europe’s top club competition.

And after being ‘rewarded’ with a place in England’s 26-man World Cup squad, Quansah believes he has justified the decision to leave Anfield having first joined as five-year-old.

Speaking after coming off the bench in England’s 3-0 warm-up win over Costa Rica in midweek, Quansah said: "Last summer it was a really tough decision, to be honest, to walk away from my boyhood club - a club I've been at all my life. But I just knew it was the best thing that I needed for my career, to be playing week in, week out.

"People who know me know I back myself no matter what and I feel like I'm capable of playing at the highest level and I wanted to show that this season.

"To be rewarded being selected for the World Cup is an absolute honour and it's all down to the hard work that I've put in over the past 12 months. 

"I feel like with every game I play, I'm getting better. I'm only young, so as long as I keep my head down, I keep grafting away, I know I'm going to be in a good place.

"It's just sticking to what I know and sticking to the goals that I've set myself and hopefully I can achieve everything I want."

Quansah’s versatility is likely to prove useful to Tuchel this summer, with the 23-year-old able to play in central defence or at right-back if called upon.

Asked about his ability to play in more than one position, Quansah added: "I think you can say that throughout my career, I've sort of drifted along the back line, whether it be left or right centre-back, or right-back.

"I'm comfortable playing all of them, to be honest, especially this past year, although it's back three for Leverkusen I'm often in right-back positions.

"I'm still getting used to it a little bit, but I feel like I'm getting better every time I play there."

The best place to stay close to the England squad in North America this summer is via the official England app, where we'll have all the latest news from camp and exclusive videos before anywhere else. Make sure you downloiad the app, via Apple Store or Google Play, and register now.