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Imagine this: a happy Rasmus Højlund in a Napoli shirt. Now, place that with a dejected the Slovenian forward sporting United's jersey, appearing like he's missed an open goal. Don't bother finding a real picture of that miss; context is the enemy. Then, include some goal stats in a big, silly font. Don't forget the emojis. Share it everywhere.

Will you mention that Højlund's goal count includes strikes in the Champions League while Sesko does not compete in continental tournaments? Of course not. And would you highlight that four of Højlund's goals were scored versus weaker national sides, or that his national team is far superior to Sesko's Slovenia and generates many more chances. If you run online for a large outlet, raw interaction is what pays the bills, Manchester United are the biggest draw, and nuance is your sworn enemy.

So the cycle of online material spins. Your next task is to sift through a lengthy podcast featuring Peter Schmeichel and find the part where he calls the acquisition of Sesko "strange". Just before, where Schmeichel qualifies his remarks by saying, "I have nothing bad to say about Benjamin Sesko"... well, remove that part. Nobody needs that. Just ensure "strange" and "Sesko" appear together in the headline. People will be outraged.

The Season of Promise and Hasty Opinions

The heart of fall has long been one of my preferred periods to watch football. The leaves swirl, winds shift, squads and strategies are still fresh, all is novel and yet patterns are emerging. Key players of the coming months are staking their claims. The transfer window is shut. No one is talking about the multiple trophies yet. Everyone are in contention. Right now, all is possibility.

However, for many of the same reasons, this period has also been one of my least favourite times to consume news on football. Because although nothing has yet been settled, something must always be getting settled. Jack Grealish is resurgent. The German talent has been a major letdown. Is Antoine Semenyo the best player in the league right now? Please an answer immediately.

The Player as The Prime Example

In many ways, Sesko feels like Patient Zero in this respect, a player caught between football's opposing, unavoidable forces. The imperative to delay final conclusions, to let layers of technical texture and tactical sophistication to develop. And the imperative to generate instant verdicts, a conveyor belt of takes and memes, out-of-context condemnations and meaningless comparisons, a puzzle that can not truly be solved.

I do not propose to offer a in-depth evaluation of Sesko's time at United to date. He has started on four occasions in the Premier League 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 duplicate the pundits' seminal masterwork "Argument Over Benjamin Sesko", in which two famous analysts argue passionately on a podcast over whether he needs ten strikes to be a success this year (one pundit), or whether it's really more like 12 or 13 (the other).

A Harsh Reality

For all this I loved watching Sesko at his former club: a big, fast racing car of a striker, playing in a team ideally suited to his abilities: given the license to attack but also the leeway to miss. Partly 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 pre-roll ad, the club with the widest and most pitiless gulf between the time and air he requires, and the time and air he is going to get.

There was an example of this over the international break, when a widely shared chart conveniently informed us that Sesko had been deemed – decisively – the worst signing of the recent market by a survey of 20 agents. And of course, the press are not alone in this. Club channels, influencers, unidentified profiles with a oddly high number of fake followers: all parties with a vested interest is now essentially operating along the same principles, an ecosystem deliberately nosed towards controversy.

The Psychological Toll

Scroll, scroll, tap, scroll. What is happening to us? Are we aware, on some level, what this endless sluice of aggravation is doing to our brains? Separate from the inherent strangeness of being a player in the middle of it all, aware on some surreal chain-reaction level that each aspect about players is now basically content, product, public property to be repackaged and exchanged.

Indeed, in part this is because United are United, the corpse that continues to feed the narrative, a major institution that must always be generating the big feelings. But also, partly this is a seasonal affliction, a swing of judgment most clearly and cruelly observed at this time of year, about a month after the transfer market shut. All summer long we have been desiring players, praising them, drooling over them. Now, only a handful of games later, a lot of those same players are already being disdained as failures. Is it time to worry about Jamie Gittens? Was Arsenal's purchase of their striker wise? What was the point of another expensive buy?

A Wider Issue

It feels appropriate that he meets Liverpool on the weekend: a team at once on a long unbeaten run at their stadium in the league and yet in their own state of feverish crisis, like filing a a report on a person who went to the store 30 minutes ago. Defensively suspect. Mohamed Salah past his prime. Alexander Isak an expensive flop. Arne Slot losing his hair.

Perhaps we have failed to understand the way the storyline of football has started to replace football itself, to influence the way we watch it, an whole competition reoriented around discussion topics and reaction, an activity that occurs in the background while we browse through our phones, incapable to detach from the constant flow of opinions and further hot takes. Perhaps Sesko taking the hit right now. However, everyone is sacrificing a part of the experience here.