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Imagine this: a smiling the Danish striker in a Napoli shirt. Next, juxtapose it with a sad-looking the Slovenian forward in a Manchester United kit, looking as if he's missed a sitter. Do not worry locating a real picture of that miss; background information is the enemy. Then, include statistics in a big, silly font. Remember the emojis. Share it across all platforms.

Would you point out that Højlund's goal count includes scores in the Champions League while his counterpart isn't playing in Europe? Of course not. And will you highlight that four of Højlund's goals were scored versus weaker national sides, or that Denmark is far superior to Sesko's Slovenia and creates far more scoring opportunities. You manage online for a major brand, raw engagement is what pays the bills, United are the biggest draw, and nuance is your sworn enemy.

So the wheel of online material turns. The next job is to scan a lengthy interview with Peter Schmeichel and find the part where he describes the acquisition of Sesko "weird". There's a bit, where he prefaces his remarks by saying, "Nothing negative to say about Benjamin Sesko"... yes, remove that part. No one needs that. Simply make sure "strange" and "the player" are paired in the headline. People will be furious.

The Season of Promise and Premature Judgment

The heart of fall has long been one of my preferred times to observe football. The leaves swirl, winds shift, squads and strategies are newly formed, everything is new and yet patterns are emerging. The stars of the season ahead are planting their flags. The transfer window is closed. Nobody is mentioning the multiple trophies yet. Everyone are in contention. 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 nothing has yet been settled, opinions must be formed immediately. The City winger is reborn. The German talent has been a major letdown. Could Semenyo be the top performer in the league at this moment? We need a decision now.

The Player as The Prime Example

In many ways, Benjamin Sesko feels like Patient Zero in this respect, a player caught between football's opposing, unavoidable forces. The need to delay final conclusions, to let technical development and tactical sophistication to mature. And the imperative to generate permanent definitive judgment, a conveyor belt of takes and jokes, out-of-context condemnations and meaningless comparisons, a puzzle that can not truly be circled.

I do not propose to provide a substantive analysis of Sesko's stint at United so far. He has been in the lineup on four occasions in the top flight in a wildly inconsistent team, found the net twice, and had a mere of 116 contacts with the ball. What exactly are we analysing? Nor do I propose to replicate Gary Neville's and Ian Wright's seminal masterwork "Argument Over Benjamin Sesko", in which two of England's leading pundits duel passionately on a popular show over whether Sesko needs ten strikes to be deemed successful this season (Neville), or whether it is more like twelve or thirteen (the other).

A Cruel Environment

For all this I loved watching Sesko at his former club: a big, fast sports car of a striker, playing in a team ideally suited to his abilities: afforded the freedom to rampage but also the leeway to fail. And in part this is why United feels like the most unforgiving place he could possibly be at the moment: a place where "brutal verdicts" are handed down in roughly the duration it takes to watch a short advertisement, the club with the largest and most ruthless gulf between the patience and space he needs, and the opportunity he is likely to receive.

We saw a case of this over the international break, when a viral infographic conveniently informed us that the player had been judged – decisively – the worst signing of the summer transfer window by a poll of 20 agents. And of course, the media are by no means alone in such behavior. Club channels, online personalities, anonymous X accounts with a oddly high number of pornbot followers: all parties with skin in the game is now basically operating along the same principles, an ecosystem explicitly nosed towards provocation.

The Mental Cost

Scroll, scroll, tap, scroll. What is happening to us? Are we aware, on some level, what this endless stream of aggravation is doing to our minds? Separate from the inherent strangeness of playing in the center of it all, aware on a bizarre butterfly-effect level that each aspect about players is now essentially content, product, public property to be packaged and exchanged.

And yes, partly this is because it's Manchester United, the entity that continues to feed the cycle, a big club that must constantly be generating the big feelings. But also, in part this is a seasonal affliction, a swing of opinion most clearly and harshly observed at this time of year, roughly four weeks after the transfer market shut. Throughout the summer we have been coveting players, eulogising them, drooling over them. Yet, just a few weeks in, a lot of those very players are now being dismissed as failures. Should we start to be concerned about Jamie Gittens? Did Arsenal actually need Viktor Gyökeres necessary? What was the point of another expensive buy?

The Bigger Picture

It feels appropriate that he faces their rivals on the weekend: a team simultaneously 13 months unbeaten at home in the Premier League and somehow in their own state of perceived turmoil, like submitting a a report on someone who went to the shops half an hour ago. Defensively suspect. Their star finished. Alexander Isak waste of money. Arne Slot losing his hair.

Perhaps we have not yet quite grasped the way the storyline of football has started to replace football itself, to inflect the way we view it, an whole competition reoriented around discussion topics and immediate responses, something that occurs in the background while we browse through our devices, incapable to detach from the constant flow of opinions and more takes. Perhaps this player bearing the brunt right now. But in a way, everyone is losing something in this process.