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Imagine the following: a smiling the Danish striker wearing Napoli's colors. Next, juxtapose that with a sad-looking Benjamin Sesko sporting United's jersey, appearing like he just missed an open goal. Don't worry locating a real picture of him missing; context is the enemy. Then, include statistics in a large, silly font. Remember the emojis. Post it everywhere.

Would you mention that Højlund's tally features scores in the premier European competition while his counterpart does not compete in continental tournaments? Of course not. Nor will you highlight that four of the Dane's goals were scored versus weaker national sides, or that Denmark is far superior to Sesko's Slovenia and creates far more chances. If you run social media for a major brand, pure engagement is your livelihood, United are the biggest draw, and context is your sworn enemy.

So the cycle of content turns. Your next task is to scan a lengthy podcast with Peter Schmeichel and extract the part where he describes the acquisition of Sesko "strange". There's a bit, where Schmeichel prefaces his comments by saying, "Nothing negative to say about Benjamin Sesko"... yes, cut that. Nobody needs that. Simply make sure "weird" and "Sesko" appear together in the headline. The audience will be outraged.

The Season of Potential and Hasty Opinions

The heart of fall has traditionally one of my favourite times to observe football. Leaves fall, the wind turns, the teams and tactics are still fresh, all is novel and yet patterns are emerging. The stars of the season ahead are planting their flags. The transfer window 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 similar reasons, mid-autumn has long 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 resurgent. Florian Wirtz has been a crushing disappointment. Could Semenyo be the best player in the league at this moment? Please a decision now.

Sesko as The Prime Example

And for numerous reasons, Benjamin Sesko feels like the archetype in this respect, a player caught between football's opposing, unavoidable forces. The need to delay final conclusions, allowing layers of technical texture and strategic understanding to mature. And the imperative to generate instant verdicts, a conveyor belt of takes and jokes, context-free criticisms and pointless comparisons, a puzzle that can never truly be circled.

It is not my aim to provide a substantive evaluation of Sesko's stint at United to date. He has been in the lineup four times in the top flight in a highly unpredictable team, found the net twice, and taken a grand total of 116 touches. What exactly are we evaluating? And do I propose to duplicate Gary Neville's and Ian Wright's notable debate "Argument Over Benjamin Sesko", in which two famous analysts argue thrillingly on a podcast over whether Sesko needs ten strikes to be a success this year (Neville), or whether it's really more like 12 or 13 (Wright).

A Harsh Reality

For all this I loved watching Sesko at his former club: a powerful, fast racing car of a forward, playing in a team pitched perfectly to his talents: given the license to attack but also the freedom to miss. Partly this is why Manchester United feels like the cruellest place he could possibly be right now: a place where "harsh judgments" are summarily issued in about the time it takes to watch a pre-roll ad, the club with the largest and most pitiless gulf between the patience and space he needs, and the time and air he is likely to receive.

We saw an example of this during the international break, when a viral infographic conveniently informed us that Sesko had been judged – decisively – the poorest acquisition of the summer transfer window by a survey of football representatives. Naturally, the press are not the only ones in this. Team social media, online personalities, anonymous X accounts with a suspiciously high number of pornbot followers: all parties with a vested interest is now basically aligned along the identical rules, an ecosystem explicitly geared for provocation.

The Psychological Toll

Endless scrolling and tapping. What is happening to us? Do we realize, on some level, what this endless sluice of aggravation is doing to our minds? Quite apart from the inherent strangeness of playing in the center of it all, knowing on some surreal butterfly-effect level that every single thing about them is now basically content, commodity, public 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 always be producing the strong emotions. But also, in part this is a temporary malaise, a swing of opinion most visibly and cruelly observed at this time of year, roughly four weeks after the transfer market shut. Throughout the summer we have been coveting footballers, eulogising them, salivating over them. Yet, just a few weeks in, many of those same players are now being dismissed as failures. Should we start to worry about a new signing? Did Arsenal actually need Viktor Gyökeres necessary? What was the purpose of another expensive buy?

The Bigger Picture

It feels appropriate that Sesko faces Liverpool on the weekend: a team simultaneously 13 months unbeaten at home in the league and somehow in their own state of perceived turmoil, like filing a missing person’s report on someone who popped to the store 30 minutes ago. Defensively suspect. Their star past his prime. Alexander Isak waste of money. Arne Slot losing his hair.

Perhaps we have not yet quite grasped the way the narrative of football has started to replace football itself, to inflect the way we watch it, an whole competition reoriented around talking points and immediate responses, an activity that happens in the background while we browse through our devices, incapable to disconnect from the saline drip of opinions and further hot takes. It may be this player taking the hit at present. However, we're all losing a part of the experience in this process.