For many young players stepping out from the cosy confines of an elite club, there is a culture shock, but not for Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah as he gets his first taste of senior football on loan at Bristol Rovers.
Three straight defeats before Tuesday's 0-0 draw with Ipswich Town started the 20-year-old's stint with the Gas, with a 5-1 beating on debut chucked in, would suggest he has endured a chastening start to life in League One, but amid the chaos around him, Quansah has cut a composed figure and his physical and technical gifts as a centre-half are clear to see.
A solid start for the defender is no fluke, Quansah says. He has spent time studying the lower levels of the game for years in preparation for a loan spell.
He has also leaned on advice from reliable sources at both ends of the game, ranging from Premier League superstar and Reds teammate Virgil van Dijk to his older brother Keenan Quansah, five years his senior who has forged a good career for himself in non-league at the likes of Stalybridge and Southport.
Those extra-curricular studies in addition to a first-class education with Liverpool have given him the tools and acumen to survive and thrive in the cut and thrust of the third tier.
"I do watch a lot of football and I do study the game quite a lot," he said. "When I was at Liverpool, most Saturdays I watched League One and League Two football, and lower than that.
"I’ve watched Conference North because my brother plays and it really comes from my brother because he’s been in and around that and he’s told me a few bits about what the dressing room is like and what it means for managers to keep their jobs.
"It’s just about making sure you’re always ready and being best prepared so if anything does come up and whatever the pathway is for you, you have done your research and everything you can to make sure you do your best on the pitch.
"It’s not been surprising, but being in and around it has been a valuable experience."
Before joining Rovers on loan in January, Quansah – a European champion at under-19s level with England – was a regular part of first-team training under Jurgen Klopp, giving him a chance to learn from a master in Van Dijk as well as testing himself against world-class forwards like Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez.
"They are world-class players," he said. "They are the best examples you are going to get in this current era of football.
"Virgil is the most complete centre-back there has ever been and training with players like him is an experience that most players don’t get. You have to be a sponge and take everything in.
"He marshals you through the game and talks to you. He makes the games seem really easy."
For the rest of the season, Quansah's absolute focus is on the Gas, but he cannot help but be encouraged by the emergence of 18-year-old Stefan Bajčetić at Anfield. He knows a pathway into the first team is open if he continues to impress.
"That’s why you’re at Liverpool, you’re waiting for that one opportunity to show what you can do," he said. "Stef has been unbelievable. He’s younger than me, but it’s positive – if he can do it, I can try to replicate it.
"It’s the plan to be a regular for a world-class team like Liverpool and that would be great, but any opportunity you get given in the short term, I’ll happily take it and show what I can do."
Multiple EFL clubs were in for Quansah in January, but he says it was the enthusiasm shown by Barton and Rovers that made it clear that a stint in North Bristol was right for him.
"It was the keenness and the trust that I heard from the manager," he said. "That was it, I could really tell he wanted me and when a club are really passionate about you, it’s only right you go there.
"He’s had a top career himself, so for someone like him to be your manager is top because he’s done it at the best levels and he says it how it is.
"If you are doing something wrong, he will bring you up on it no matter how old or how young you are. It’s good to have a manager that is honest with you."
Barton was in attendance to scout Quansah in action Liverpool's under-21s against Paris Saint Germain last month before sealing the loan deal.
"We just got told there were a few first-team staff," he recalled. "You don’t get told too many details, but in my head I always have to try to impress, no matter who is in the stands every time I set foot on the pitch."
Quansah is still waiting for his first win as a Rovers player and he hopes that will come on Saturday against Burton Albion, but off the pitch it has been an enjoyable experience so far.
On the pitch, there have been no surprises; the upturn in pressure and consequence were expected and Quansah is relishing the challenge.
"I thought it would be stranger and weirder (moving away from Liverpool), but it’s been good," he said. "The lads here are unbelievable and I’ve found it easy to settle in, but that comes from the coaches and the senior pros and they have made it really easy to fit in.
"I’d heard about a few players because there are a few scousers down here. There are friends of friends.
"It’s a completely different game compared to the under-21s league. Three points is everything to clubs and it’s the "difference between a manager keeping and losing their job.
"There is a lot of different pressure but when I was younger, I wanted to be playing professional football and I’m here doing it. It’s good."
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