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Imagine this: a smiling Rasmus Højlund wearing Napoli's colors. Next, juxtapose it with a sad-looking Benjamin Sesko in a Manchester United kit, appearing like he just missed an open goal. Don't bother finding an actual photo of him missing; background information is the enemy. Now, include statistics in a big, silly font. Remember some emoticons. Share the image everywhere.

Would you mention that Højlund's tally includes scores in the premier European competition while Sesko does not compete in continental tournaments? Of course not. And would you highlight that several of Højlund's goals were scored versus weaker national sides, or that Denmark is far superior to Sesko's Slovenia and creates far more chances. If you manage online for a major brand, raw engagement is what pays the bills, Manchester United are the prime target, and nuance is the thing to avoid.

Thus the cycle of online material spins. The next job is to scan a 44-minute interview with the legendary goalkeeper and extract the part where he describes the acquisition of Sesko "strange". There's a bit, where Schmeichel prefaces his comments by saying, "I have nothing bad to say about Benjamin Sesko"... yes, cut that. No one needs that. Just ensure "weird" and "Sesko" appear together in the headline. People will be furious.

The Season of Potential and Premature Judgment

Mid-autumn has long been one of my favourite times to observe football. The leaves swirl, the wind turns, squads and strategies are still fresh, all is novel and yet patterns are emerging. The stars of the season ahead are staking their claims. The transfer window is closed. Nobody is mentioning the multiple trophies yet. Everyone are in contention. At this precise point, anything is possible.

However, for similar reasons, this period has also been one of my most disliked times to read about football. For while nothing has yet been settled, opinions must be formed immediately. Jack Grealish is resurgent. Florian Wirtz has been a major letdown. Is Antoine Semenyo the best player in the league at this moment? Please an answer now.

The Player as Patient Zero

And for numerous reasons, Sesko feels like the archetype in this respect, a player caught between football's opposing, unavoidable forces. The imperative to withhold final conclusions, allowing technical development and tactical sophistication to mature. And the demand to produce permanent definitive judgment, a constant stream of takes and memes, context-free criticisms and meaningless comparisons, a puzzle that can not truly be circled.

It is not my aim to provide a substantive evaluation of Sesko's time at Manchester United to date. The guy has started on four occasions in the top flight in a highly unpredictable team, scored two goals, and had a grand total of 116 touches. What exactly are we evaluating? And will I attempt to replicate the pundits' notable debate "Argument Over Benjamin Sesko", in which two famous analysts duel passionately on a popular show over whether Sesko needs ten strikes to be deemed successful this season (Neville), or whether it's really more like twelve or thirteen (the other).

A Harsh Reality

Despite this I loved watching Sesko at his former club: a big, screeching sports car of a forward, playing in a team pitched perfectly to his abilities: afforded the license to rampage but also the freedom to fail. And in part this is why United feels like the most unforgiving place he could possibly be right now: a place where "harsh judgments" are handed down in about the time it takes to load a short advertisement, the club with the widest and most ruthless gap between the patience and space he requires, and the time and air he is likely to receive.

We saw a case of this over the national team pause, when a viral chart handily stated that Sesko had been deemed – decisively – the poorest acquisition of the summer transfer window by a survey of football representatives. And of course, the media are not the only ones in such behavior. Club channels, influencers, unidentified profiles with a suspiciously high number of pornbot followers: all parties with a vested interest is now essentially operating along the same principles, an environment deliberately geared for controversy.

The Psychological Toll

Endless scrolling and tapping. What is happening to ourselves? Are we aware, on some level, what this endless sluice of irritation is doing to our brains? Separate from the essential weirdness of playing in the center of this, knowing on a bizarre chain-reaction level that each aspect about them is now essentially content, commodity, open-source property to be packaged and traded.

Indeed, in part this is because it's Manchester United, the entity that continues to feed the narrative, a big club that must always be generating the big feelings. However, partly this is a temporary malaise, a swing of judgment most visibly and cruelly observed at this season, about a month after the transfer market shut. Throughout the summer we have been desiring players, praising them, salivating over them. Now, just a few weeks in, many of those very players are now being disdained as broken goods. Is it time to worry about a new signing? Did Arsenal actually need their striker necessary? What was the point of another expensive buy?

The Bigger Picture

It seems fitting that he meets Liverpool on the weekend: a team simultaneously on a long unbeaten run at their stadium in the Premier League and somehow in their own situation of feverish crisis, like filing a missing person’s report on someone who went to the shops 30 minutes ago. Defensively suspect. Their star past his prime. The striker an expensive flop. The coach bald.

Perhaps we have not yet quite grasped the way the narrative of football has begun to supplant football the actual game, to inflect the way we view it, an whole competition repivoted around talking points and immediate responses, an activity that happens in the background while we scroll through our phones, unable to disconnect from the constant flow of opinions and more takes. It may be Sesko taking the hit at present. However, everyone is sacrificing something in this process.