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Imagine this: a happy Rasmus Højlund wearing Napoli's colors. Now, place it with a dejected Benjamin Sesko sporting United's jersey, appearing like he's missed a sitter. Do not bother locating a real picture of that miss; context is the enemy. Then, include statistics in a big, comical font. Don't forget some emoticons. Post the image across all platforms.

Will you mention that Højlund's tally features strikes in the Champions League while his counterpart does not compete in continental tournaments? Certainly not. Nor will you highlight that several of the Dane's goals were scored versus weaker national sides, or that Denmark is far superior to Slovenia and generates far more chances. You manage social media for a large outlet, pure interaction is what pays the bills, United are the biggest draw, and context is the thing to avoid.

So the cycle of online material spins. The next job is to scan a lengthy interview with Peter Schmeichel and find the part where he describes the acquisition of Sesko "strange". There's a bit, where Schmeichel qualifies his comments by saying, "Nothing negative to say about Benjamin Sesko"... yes, remove that part. No one wants that. Just make sure "weird" and "the player" are paired in the title. People will be outraged.

The Season of Promise and Premature Judgment

Mid-autumn has traditionally one of my preferred times to observe football. The leaves swirl, the wind turns, the teams and tactics are still fresh, all is novel and yet everything is beginning to form. Key players of the season ahead are staking their claims. The transfer window is shut. Nobody is talking about the multiple trophies yet. Everyone are in contention. At this precise point, 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 resurgent. The German talent has been a crushing disappointment. Could Semenyo be the top performer in the league right now? Please a decision immediately.

The Player as The Prime Example

In many ways, Sesko feels like Patient Zero in this context, a player caught between football's opposing, unavoidable forces. The imperative to delay definitive judgment, to let layers of technical texture and strategic understanding to mature. And the imperative to produce permanent definitive judgment, a constant stream of opinions and jokes, out-of-context condemnations and pointless comparisons, a puzzle that can not truly be circled.

It is not my aim to offer a in-depth evaluation of Sesko's stint at United so far. The guy has been in the lineup four times in the Premier League in a wildly inconsistent team, scored two goals, and had a grand total of 116 touches. What precisely are we evaluating? And do I propose to replicate Gary Neville's and Ian Wright's seminal masterwork "The Sesko Debate", in which two famous analysts duel thrillingly on a podcast over whether Sesko needs 10 goals to be deemed successful this season (one pundit), or whether it is more like twelve or thirteen (Wright).

A Cruel Environment

For all this I enjoyed watching Sesko at his former club: a powerful, fast sports car of a forward, playing in a team ideally suited to his talents: given the freedom to attack but also the leeway 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 ruthless gap between the patience and space he requires, and the opportunity he is going to get.

There was a case of this during the national team pause, when a viral infographic handily stated that the player had been judged – by a wide margin – the worst signing of the summer transfer window by a poll of 20 agents. And of course, the media are by no means the only ones in this. Club channels, online personalities, unidentified profiles with a oddly high number of pornbot followers: everybody with a vested interest is now basically operating along the same principles, an environment explicitly geared for controversy.

The Psychological Toll

Endless scrolling and tapping. What is happening to us? Do we realize, on any 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 this, knowing on some surreal chain-reaction level that each aspect about players is now essentially material, product, public property to be packaged and exchanged.

Indeed, in part this is because United are United, the corpse that keeps nourishing the cycle, a big club that must constantly be generating the big feelings. But also, partly this is a temporary malaise, a pendulum of judgment most clearly and cruelly observed at this season, roughly four weeks after the window has closed. Throughout the summer we have been desiring players, praising them, salivating over them. Now, only a handful of games later, a lot of those very players are now being dismissed as failures. Is it time to worry about Jamie Gittens? Was Arsenal's purchase of Viktor Gyökeres wise? What was the purpose of another expensive buy?

A Wider Issue

It seems fitting that he meets their rivals on Sunday: a team simultaneously on a long unbeaten run at home in the Premier League and somehow in their own situation of feverish crisis, like submitting a missing person’s report on a person who popped to the store 30 minutes ago. Defensively suspect. Their star finished. Alexander Isak an expensive flop. Arne Slot bald.

Maybe we have failed to understand the way the storyline of football has started to replace football itself, to influence the way we view it, an whole competition repivoted around discussion topics and reaction, something that occurs in the backdrop while we browse through our devices, incapable to disconnect from the saline drip of takes and more takes. Perhaps this player bearing the brunt at present. But in a way, everyone is losing a part of the experience in this process.