Few expected the 27-year-old to be the answer when Barça set out to bolster their forward line. Luis Diaz proved out of reach, and Nico Williams, likewise unaffordable, stayed put at Athletic Bilbao with a new deal. Option C, it turns out, has been the right one.
Ice-cool and economical, Rashford has grown in importance as injuries have bitten into Flick’s first-choice wide options. Even without the fitness issues, the relentlessness of the schedule and the five-sub rule always pointed to regular minutes; he was likely to feature in most games regardless.
Since debuting on 27 July in a friendly against Vissel Kobe, the England international has been involved in every match. He began the season as an impact substitute; circumstance and form have since nudged him into the XI. The question now is whether he keeps his place once the treatment room clears.
For the moment, he has the numbers to back it up. Rashford leads the squad for direct goal involvements: three goals and five assists, eight in total. No one at Barcelona can match that return so far this season.
He has also logged more minutes (621) than Raphinha (475), Robert Lewandowski (435), Dani Olmo (572) or Lamine Yamal (393), with only Ferran Torres ahead on 649.
Torres is next for end product (five goals, one assist), while third place is shared by Lamine Yamal (two goals, three assists) and Raphinha (three and two). Also on the board: Lewandowski (four goals), Fermin Lopez (two), Pedri (one goal, one assist), Jules Kounde (one and one), Eric Garcia (one), Ronald Araujo (one), plus single assists for Gavi, Marc Casado and Marc Bernal.
However, this shakes out when the absentees return, Rashford has already given Flick exactly what he needed: reliability, incision and a burst of end product at just the right time.