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Picture the following: a smiling Rasmus Højlund in a Napoli shirt. Next, juxtapose that with a sad-looking Benjamin Sesko sporting United's jersey, looking as if he just missed an open goal. Don't bother finding an actual photo of him missing; background information is the enemy. Now, add statistics in a big, silly font. Don't forget the emojis. Share it across all platforms.

Would you mention that Højlund's goal count features strikes in the premier European competition while Sesko does not compete in continental tournaments? Of course not. And would you note that four of the Dane's goals were scored versus weaker national sides, or that Denmark is much stronger to Sesko's Slovenia and generates many more scoring opportunities. You run social media for a major brand, pure engagement is what pays the bills, Manchester United are the biggest draw, and nuance is your sworn enemy.

Thus the cycle of content turns. The next job is to sift through a 44-minute interview with Peter Schmeichel and find the part where he calls the signing of Sesko "strange". There's a bit, where Schmeichel qualifies his comments by saying, "I have nothing bad to say about Benjamin Sesko"... well, cut that. No one wants that. Simply ensure "strange" and "Sesko" are paired in the title. The audience will be furious.

This Time of Potential and Premature Judgment

Mid-autumn has long been one of my preferred times to watch football. The leaves swirl, winds shift, the teams and tactics are still fresh, everything is new and yet patterns are emerging. The stars of the coming months are planting their flags. The summer market is closed. No one is mentioning the multiple trophies yet. All teams are still in the game. At this precise point, anything is possible.

Yet, for many of the same reasons, this period has also been one of my least favourite times to consume news on football. Because although no outcomes are decided, opinions must be formed immediately. Jack Grealish is reborn. Florian Wirtz has been a crushing disappointment. Could Semenyo be the top performer 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 respect, a player caught between football's opposing, non-negotiable forces. The need to withhold final conclusions, allowing technical development and strategic understanding to mature. And the demand to generate permanent definitive judgment, a constant stream of takes and memes, context-free criticisms and meaningless comparisons, a puzzle that can not truly be solved.

I do not propose to provide a in-depth evaluation of Sesko's time at Manchester United so far. He has started four times in the Premier League in a highly unpredictable team, found the net twice, and taken a mere of 116 contacts with the ball. What precisely are we evaluating? Nor will I attempt to replicate Gary Neville's and Ian Wright's notable debate "Argument Over Benjamin Sesko", in which two famous analysts argue passionately on a podcast over whether Sesko needs ten strikes to be deemed successful this year (Neville), or whether it's really more like twelve or thirteen (the other).

A Harsh Reality

For all this I loved watching him at his former club: a powerful, screeching racing car of a striker, playing in a team ideally suited to his talents: afforded the freedom to rampage but also the freedom to fail. And in part this is why Manchester United feels like the most unforgiving place he could possibly be right now: a place where "brutal verdicts" are handed down in roughly the duration it takes to watch a pre-roll ad, the club with the largest and most ruthless gulf between the time and air he requires, and the opportunity he is going to get.

We saw an example of this during the national team pause, when a widely shared chart conveniently informed us that Sesko had been deemed – decisively – the worst signing of the recent market by a poll of 20 agents. Naturally, the media are by no means the only ones in such behavior. Team social media, influencers, anonymous X accounts with a suspiciously high number of fake followers: everybody with a vested interest is now essentially operating along the identical rules, an environment deliberately nosed towards controversy.

The Mental Cost

Endless scrolling and tapping. What is happening to us? Are we aware, on any level, what this infinite sluice of aggravation is doing to our brains? Quite apart from the inherent strangeness of being a player in the middle of this, knowing on a bizarre butterfly-effect level that every single thing about players is now essentially content, product, public property to be packaged and traded.

And yes, partly this is because it's Manchester United, the entity that continues to feed the narrative, a major institution that must always be producing the big feelings. But also, partly this is a temporary malaise, a swing of opinion most visibly and harshly glimpsed at this season, roughly four weeks after the transfer market shut. Throughout the summer we have been desiring players, eulogising them, drooling over them. Now, only a handful of games later, a lot of those very players are already being dismissed as broken goods. Is it time to be concerned about Jamie Gittens? Did Arsenal actually need their striker wise? What was the purpose of Randal Kolo Muani?

A Wider Issue

It feels appropriate that he meets Liverpool on Sunday: a team at once 13 months unbeaten at their stadium in the league and yet in their own situation of perceived turmoil, like submitting a a report on a person who went to the store half an hour ago. Too open. Mohamed Salah past his prime. The striker waste of money. Arne Slot losing his hair.

Perhaps we have failed to understand the way the narrative of football has started to replace football itself, to influence the way we view it, an entire sport reoriented around discussion topics and reaction, something that occurs in the backdrop while we browse through our phones, unable to disconnect from the saline drip of takes and more takes. Perhaps this player bearing the brunt right now. But in a way, everyone is sacrificing a part of the experience in this process.