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Picture the following: a smiling the Danish striker in a Napoli shirt. Now, juxtapose it with a dejected Benjamin Sesko sporting United's jersey, looking as if he just missed a sitter. Don't bother finding an actual photo of him missing; context is the enemy. Then, add some goal stats in a big, comical font. Don't forget the emojis. Share the image across all platforms.

Will you point out that Højlund's goal count includes strikes in the Champions League while Sesko does not compete in continental tournaments? Of course not. And will you highlight that four of the Dane's goals came against weaker national sides, or that his national team is far superior to Sesko's Slovenia and creates far more scoring opportunities. You manage social media for a large outlet, raw interaction is your livelihood, Manchester United are the prime target, and context is the thing to avoid.

Thus the wheel of content spins. The next job is to sift through a lengthy podcast with the legendary goalkeeper and extract the part where he describes the acquisition of Sesko "weird". There's a bit, where Schmeichel qualifies his remarks by saying, "I have nothing bad to say about Benjamin Sesko"... well, cut that. Nobody wants that. Just ensure "strange" and "the player" are paired in the title. People will be outraged.

This Time of Promise and Hasty Opinions

Mid-autumn has traditionally one of my favourite times to watch football. Leaves fall, winds shift, the teams and tactics are still fresh, all is novel and yet everything is beginning to form. Key players of the season ahead are planting their flags. The transfer window is shut. No one is talking about the multiple trophies yet. All teams are still in the game. Right now, all is possibility.

Yet, for many of the same reasons, this period has long been one of my least favourite times to consume news on football. Because although no outcomes are decided, something must always be getting settled. The City winger is resurgent. Florian Wirtz has been a crushing disappointment. Could Semenyo be the best player in the league right now? Please an answer now.

Sesko as The Prime Example

And for numerous reasons, Sesko feels like Patient Zero in this context, a player inextricably trapped between football's opposing, non-negotiable forces. The need to withhold definitive judgment, to let layers of technical texture and strategic understanding to mature. And the imperative to produce instant definitive judgment, a conveyor belt of opinions and jokes, context-free criticisms and meaningless comparisons, a square that can not truly be circled.

I do not propose to provide a in-depth evaluation of Sesko's time at United so far. The guy has started on four occasions in the top flight in a highly unpredictable team, scored two goals, and taken a grand total of 116 touches. What exactly are we analysing? Nor do I propose to replicate the pundits' notable debate "Argument Over Benjamin Sesko", in which two famous analysts argue passionately on a podcast over whether he needs 10 goals to be deemed successful this season (Neville), or whether it is more like 12 or 13 (Wright).

A Cruel Environment

For all this I loved watching Sesko at his former club: a powerful, fast sports car of a forward, playing in a team pitched perfectly to his abilities: afforded the license to rampage but also the freedom to miss. And in part this is why United feels like the cruellest place he could possibly be at the moment: a place where "brutal verdicts" are handed down in about the time it takes to watch a pre-roll ad, the club with the largest and most ruthless gulf between the patience and space he requires, and the opportunity he is likely to receive.

There was a case of this during the international break, when a viral chart handily stated that the player had been judged – by a wide margin – the worst signing of the recent market by a survey of football representatives. And of course, the media are not the only ones in this. Club channels, online personalities, unidentified profiles with a oddly high number of fake followers: all parties with skin in the game is now basically aligned along the same principles, an environment deliberately nosed towards provocation.

The Mental Cost

Scroll, scroll, tap, scroll. What are we doing to us? Do we realize, on some level, what this infinite stream of aggravation is doing to our brains? Quite apart from the inherent strangeness of being a player in the middle of it all, aware on a bizarre butterfly-effect level that each aspect about players is now essentially content, product, open-source property to be packaged and traded.

And yes, partly this is because United are United, the entity that continues to feed the cycle, a major institution that must constantly be producing the strong emotions. However, partly this is a seasonal affliction, a swing of judgment most clearly and harshly glimpsed at this season, about a month after the transfer market shut. All summer long we have been coveting footballers, eulogising 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 be concerned about Jamie Gittens? Was Arsenal's purchase of their striker necessary? What was the purpose of another expensive buy?

A Wider Issue

It feels appropriate that he meets their rivals on Sunday: a team at once 13 months unbeaten at home in the Premier League and somehow in their own situation of perceived turmoil, like submitting a missing person’s report on a person who popped to the shops 30 minutes ago. Defensively suspect. Mohamed Salah past his prime. The striker an expensive flop. The coach bald.

Maybe we have failed to understand the way the storyline of football has begun to supplant football itself, to inflect the way we view it, an entire sport reoriented around discussion topics and immediate responses, an activity that happens in the backdrop while we scroll through our phones, unable to detach from the constant flow of opinions and more takes. It may be Sesko taking the hit right now. However, we're all losing a part of the experience in this process.