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Imagine the following: a happy Rasmus Højlund wearing Napoli's colors. Next, place that with a dejected the Slovenian forward sporting United's jersey, appearing like he's missed a sitter. Do not bother locating a real picture of him missing; context is the enemy. Now, include statistics in a large, silly font. Don't forget some emoticons. Share it everywhere.

Will you mention that Højlund's goal count features scores in the premier European competition while Sesko isn't playing in Europe? Certainly not. And would 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 many more scoring opportunities. If you manage online for a major brand, pure engagement is what pays the bills, United are the biggest draw, and context is the thing to avoid.

Thus the cycle of online material spins. Your next task is to scan a lengthy podcast with the legendary goalkeeper and find the part where he describes the signing of Sesko "strange". Just before, where Schmeichel qualifies his remarks by saying, "Nothing negative to say about Benjamin Sesko"... well, cut that. Nobody needs that. Just ensure "weird" and "Sesko" are paired in the headline. People will be furious.

The Season of Promise and Hasty Opinions

Mid-autumn has long been one of my favourite times to observe football. The leaves swirl, winds shift, squads and strategies are newly formed, all is novel and yet everything is beginning to form. The stars of the season ahead are staking their claims. The transfer window is shut. Nobody is talking about the multiple trophies yet. Everyone are still in the game. At this precise point, anything is possible.

Yet, for similar reasons, mid-autumn has also been one of my least favourite times to read about football. Because although nothing has yet been settled, something must always be getting settled. The City winger is reborn. Florian Wirtz has been a crushing disappointment. Is Antoine Semenyo the best player in the league right now? We need a decision immediately.

The Player as The Prime Example

And for numerous reasons, Benjamin Sesko feels like the archetype in this context, a player inextricably trapped between football's opposing, non-negotiable forces. The imperative to withhold final conclusions, allowing layers of technical texture and strategic understanding to develop. And the imperative to produce permanent definitive judgment, a constant stream of takes and memes, out-of-context criticisms and meaningless contrasts, a square that can never truly be circled.

I do not propose to offer a substantive evaluation of Sesko's stint at Manchester United to date. He has been in the lineup on four occasions in the Premier League in a highly unpredictable team, found the net twice, and had a grand total of 116 contacts with the ball. What precisely are we evaluating? And do I propose to replicate the pundits' seminal masterwork "Argument Over Benjamin Sesko", in which two famous analysts duel thrillingly on a popular show over whether he needs 10 goals to be a success this year (one pundit), or whether it's really more like 12 or 13 (Wright).

A Cruel Environment

Despite this I enjoyed watching him at Leipzig: a powerful, fast sports car of a forward, playing in a team ideally suited to his talents: afforded the freedom to rampage but also the freedom to miss. Partly this is why Manchester United feels like the most unforgiving place he could possibly be right now: a place where "brutal verdicts" are summarily issued in about the time it takes to load a short advertisement, the club with the largest and most pitiless gap between the patience and space he requires, and the time and air he is going to get.

We saw an example of this during the international break, when a viral infographic handily informed us that Sesko had been judged – by a wide margin – the worst signing of the recent market by a survey of 20 agents. Naturally, the press are not the only ones in this. Club channels, online personalities, unidentified profiles with a oddly high number of pornbot followers: all parties with skin in the game is now essentially operating along the same principles, an environment deliberately geared for controversy.

The Psychological Toll

Scroll, scroll, tap, scroll. What is happening to ourselves? Do we realize, on some level, what this endless sluice of aggravation is doing to our minds? Separate from the inherent strangeness of playing in the center of it all, knowing on some surreal chain-reaction level that every single thing about them is now basically material, commodity, public property to be packaged and exchanged.

Indeed, in part this is because United are United, the entity that continues to feed the cycle, a major institution that must constantly be generating the strong emotions. But also, partly this is a seasonal affliction, a swing of opinion most clearly and cruelly observed at this time of year, about a month after the window has closed. Throughout the summer we have been coveting players, praising them, drooling over them. Now, only a handful of games later, many of those very players are now being dismissed as failures. Should we start to worry about Jamie Gittens? Was Arsenal's purchase of their striker wise? What was the point of another expensive buy?

The Bigger Picture

It feels appropriate that Sesko faces Liverpool on Sunday: a team simultaneously on a long unbeaten run at home in the league and somehow in their own state of perceived turmoil, like filing a missing person’s report on a person who popped to the shops 30 minutes ago. Too open. Mohamed Salah finished. Alexander Isak waste of money. The coach losing his hair.

Maybe we have failed to understand the way the storyline of football has started to replace football the actual game, to influence the way we view it, an entire sport reoriented around talking points and immediate responses, something that occurs in the background while we browse through our devices, incapable to detach from the saline drip of opinions and further hot takes. Perhaps Sesko bearing the brunt right now. But in a way, we're all sacrificing something here.