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Imagine the following: a happy Rasmus Højlund wearing Napoli's colors. Now, juxtapose that with a sad-looking Benjamin Sesko sporting United's jersey, appearing like he just missed a sitter. Do not bother locating an actual photo of him missing; context is the enemy. Now, include statistics in a big, comical font. Remember the emojis. Share the image everywhere.

Will you point out that Højlund's tally features scores in the premier European competition while Sesko does not compete in continental tournaments? Certainly not. Nor would you highlight that four of Højlund's goals came against Belarus and Greece, or that Denmark is far superior to Sesko's Slovenia and creates many more scoring opportunities. You manage online for a major brand, pure engagement is your livelihood, Manchester United are the biggest draw, and nuance is your sworn enemy.

So the cycle of online material spins. Your next task is to scan a lengthy podcast with Peter Schmeichel and find the part where he describes the acquisition of Sesko "strange". Just before, where Schmeichel qualifies his comments by saying, "I have nothing bad to say about Benjamin Sesko"... yes, remove that part. Nobody wants that. Just make sure "strange" and "the player" appear together in the title. People will be furious.

This Time of Promise and Hasty Opinions

Mid-autumn has long been one of my favourite periods to observe football. The leaves swirl, winds shift, the teams and tactics are newly formed, everything is new and yet everything is beginning to form. The stars of the season ahead are planting their flags. The transfer window is shut. Nobody is talking about the multiple trophies yet. Everyone are still in the game. At this precise point, anything is possible.

Yet, for similar reasons, this period has long been one of my most disliked times to consume news on football. Because although no outcomes are decided, opinions must be formed immediately. The City winger is resurgent. The German talent has been a crushing disappointment. Is Antoine Semenyo the best player in the league at this moment? We need a decision now.

The Player as The Prime Example

And for numerous reasons, Sesko feels like the archetype in this context, a player inextricably trapped between football's opposing, non-negotiable forces. The need to withhold definitive judgment, to let technical development and tactical sophistication to mature. And the imperative to produce permanent definitive judgment, a constant stream of takes and jokes, out-of-context criticisms and meaningless comparisons, a puzzle that can never truly be circled.

It is not my aim to offer a substantive analysis of Sesko's stint at Manchester United to date. The guy has started on four occasions in the Premier League in a highly unpredictable team, scored two goals, and had a mere of 116 touches. What exactly are we analysing? Nor will I attempt to replicate the pundits' notable debate "Argument Over Benjamin Sesko", in which two famous analysts argue passionately on a popular show over whether Sesko needs ten strikes to be a success this season (Neville), or whether it is more like twelve or thirteen (the other).

A Cruel Environment

Despite this I loved watching him at Leipzig: a big, fast racing car of a forward, playing in a team pitched perfectly to his talents: given the license to rampage but also the leeway to miss. Partly this is why Manchester United feels like the cruellest place he could possibly be at the moment: a place where "harsh judgments" are summarily issued in roughly the duration it takes to watch a pre-roll ad, the club with the widest and most ruthless gap between the patience and space he requires, and the time and air he is going to get.

We saw an example of this during the national team pause, when a widely shared infographic conveniently stated that Sesko had been judged – by a wide margin – the worst signing of the summer transfer window by a poll of 20 agents. And of course, the press are by no means the only ones in such behavior. Club channels, influencers, anonymous X accounts with a suspiciously high number of fake followers: all parties with skin in the game is now essentially operating along the same principles, an environment deliberately nosed towards controversy.

The Psychological Toll

Endless scrolling and tapping. What are we doing to us? Are we aware, on any level, what this infinite sluice of irritation is doing to our minds? Quite apart from the essential weirdness of playing in the center of this, aware on some surreal chain-reaction level that each aspect about players is now essentially material, product, open-source property to be repackaged and exchanged.

Indeed, in part this is because United are United, the corpse that keeps nourishing the narrative, a big club that must always be producing the strong emotions. But also, in part this is a seasonal affliction, a swing of judgment most clearly and cruelly observed at this time of year, roughly four weeks after the transfer market shut. All summer long we have been coveting footballers, praising them, drooling over them. Yet, just a few weeks in, a lot of those same players are now being disdained as broken goods. Should we start to worry about a new signing? Was Arsenal's purchase of their striker necessary? What was the point of Randal Kolo Muani?

A Wider Issue

It feels appropriate that he faces their rivals on the weekend: a team simultaneously on a long unbeaten run at home in the Premier League and yet in their own state of perceived turmoil, like filing a missing person’s report on someone who went to the shops half an hour ago. Too open. Their star finished. Alexander Isak an expensive flop. The coach bald.

Maybe we have not yet quite grasped the way the storyline of football has started to replace football the actual game, to influence the way we view it, an entire sport reoriented around talking points and immediate responses, something that occurs in the backdrop while we browse through our phones, unable to detach from the saline drip of opinions and more takes. It may be Sesko bearing the brunt right now. However, everyone is sacrificing something here.