Quansah says young Leverkusen team must get room to grow
Bayer Leverkusen thumped St. Pauli 4-0 on Saturday, but Jarell Quansah says they are still working towards realising their full potential.
Jarell Quansah said Bayer Leverkusen's young squad must be given time to grow together and reach their full potential, following Saturday's dominant 4-0 win over St. Pauli.
Kasper Hjulmand's team strengthened their bid for a top-four Bundesliga finish with a comprehensive victory at the BayArena, where Quansah was one of four different goalscorers.
He was joined on the scoresheet by Patrick Schick, Edmond Tapsoba and Ernest Poku as Leverkusen extended their unbeaten run to six games in all competitions (five wins, one draw).
It has been a season of change at Leverkusen, who dismissed Erik ten Hag after just three games at the helm, following the exit of former Bundesliga-winning boss Xabi Alonso.
Quansah is one of 18 players to have joined Leverkusen this season, while they also let 20 players depart either permanently or temporarily, headlined by Florian Wirtz's £130m sale to Liverpool.
Quansah noted it will take time for Leverkusen to become a complete team when speaking to the club's website after Saturday's game,
"I feel like we needed that today. Recently, we've not managed to dominate in the way we want to for the entire game. It's a massively important part of the season," he said.
"We're a new team that's still coming together and people still forget that. We're forming new partnerships every week, with different formations, different positions against different teams.
"So it's never easy. Credit to the boys when they're not playing week in, week out. They'll come in and do a great job, like Ernest. He's a true professional and you can see that from his performances, he's always ready."
Poku – who arrived from AZ Alkmaar at the start of the season – now has 11 goal involvements in all competitions this term (five goals, six assists), ranking third in Leverkusen's squad behind Alejandro Grimaldo (18) and Schick (14).
"Yeah, I'm thankful for all the minutes I get from the coach and the trust I've had from the whole team," Poku said. "I'm very happy for all that, and hopefully I can score even more and give more assists."
