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Imagine the following: a happy Rasmus Højlund wearing Napoli's colors. Next, place it with a sad-looking the Slovenian forward in a Manchester United kit, appearing like he just missed an open goal. Do not worry finding a real picture of that miss; background information is the enemy. Then, add statistics in a big, silly font. Don't forget some emoticons. Post the image 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 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 creates many more chances. If you run online for a large outlet, raw interaction is what pays the bills, Manchester United are the prime target, and context is your sworn enemy.

So the wheel of online material turns. The next job is to sift through a lengthy interview with Peter Schmeichel and extract the part where he describes the signing of Sesko "weird". Just before, where he prefaces his remarks by saying, "Nothing negative to say about Benjamin Sesko"... well, remove that part. Nobody wants that. Simply ensure "weird" and "the player" appear together in the title. The audience will be outraged.

This Time of Potential and Hasty Opinions

Mid-autumn has long been one of my favourite times to watch football. Leaves fall, the wind turns, the teams and tactics are newly formed, everything is new and yet patterns are emerging. Key players of the season ahead are staking their claims. The transfer window is closed. 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 long been one of my least favourite times to read about football. Because although no outcomes are decided, something must always be getting settled. The City winger is reborn. The German talent has been a crushing disappointment. Is Antoine Semenyo the top performer in the league right now? We need a decision now.

The Player as The Prime Example

In many ways, Sesko feels like the archetype in this context, a player caught between football's opposing, unavoidable forces. The imperative to delay final conclusions, allowing technical development and tactical sophistication to develop. And the imperative to generate instant verdicts, a conveyor belt of takes and memes, context-free criticisms and meaningless comparisons, a square that can not truly be solved.

I do not propose to offer a substantive analysis of Sesko's time at United so far. He has been in the lineup on four occasions in the Premier League in a wildly inconsistent team, scored two goals, and taken a grand total of 116 contacts with the ball. What exactly are we analysing? And do I propose to duplicate the pundits' notable debate "Argument Over Benjamin Sesko", in which two famous analysts duel passionately on a podcast over whether Sesko needs ten strikes to be deemed successful this year (one pundit), or whether it's really more like 12 or 13 (Wright).

A Cruel Environment

Despite this I loved watching him at his former club: a big, fast sports car of a forward, playing in a team pitched perfectly to his abilities: given the license to attack but also the freedom to fail. And in part this is why Manchester United feels like the most unforgiving place he could possibly be at the moment: a place where "harsh judgments" are summarily issued in about the time it takes to watch a short advertisement, the club with the widest and most ruthless gap between the patience and space he needs, and the time and air he is going to get.

There was a case of this during the international break, when a viral infographic handily stated that Sesko had been judged – decisively – the poorest acquisition of the recent market by a survey of 20 agents. And of course, the media are by no means alone in this. Team social media, influencers, unidentified profiles with a suspiciously high number of pornbot followers: all parties with skin in the game is now basically aligned 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 any level, what this endless stream of aggravation is doing to our brains? Quite apart from the essential weirdness of being a player in the center of this, knowing on some surreal chain-reaction level that every single thing about them is now basically content, product, public property to be repackaged and exchanged.

And yes, partly this is because United are United, the corpse that keeps nourishing the narrative, a major institution that must always be generating the strong emotions. But also, in part this is a seasonal affliction, a pendulum of opinion most visibly and harshly observed at this season, about a month after the window has closed. Throughout the summer we have been coveting players, eulogising them, salivating over them. Yet, only a handful of games later, many of those very players are now being disdained as broken goods. Is it time to be concerned about Jamie Gittens? Was Arsenal's purchase of their striker necessary? What was the purpose of another expensive buy?

A Wider Issue

It feels appropriate that he faces their rivals on Sunday: a team at once 13 months unbeaten at home in the Premier League and somehow in their own state of perceived turmoil, like submitting a a report on a person who went to the store 30 minutes ago. Too open. Mohamed Salah past his prime. Alexander Isak waste of money. The coach 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 whole competition repivoted around talking points and reaction, something that occurs in the background while we browse through our devices, incapable to detach from the constant flow of takes and further hot takes. It may be this player bearing the brunt right now. But in a way, we're all losing a part of the experience in this process.