Is he just a pretender to the throne vacated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, or is he the real deal?
Stong starting XI from Barcelona
The true answer won't be revealed until much later in his career, of course, but he's certainly going some way to silencing his critics.
On Tuesday night, Barca travelled to Albacete for their Copa del Rey quarter-final.
Under normal circumstances, the visitors would be most people's favourites, but given that the Spanish second-tier team had dumped out Real Madrid in the last round and Celta Vigo in the round before that, this match was unlikely to be a walkover for the Catalan outfit.
Complacency would be Barca's enemy, and they would have to take the assignment seriously if they wanted to progress to the semi-final.
A strong starting XI from Hansi Flick that included Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, Marcus Rashford and other senior players, suggested that the Catalans had got the memo, affording due respect to their hosts.
Superb opening goal
A collective 73% possession for the visitors in the opening quarter hour looked great on paper, though they hadn't made any kind of attacking inroads to that point.
Lamine's five crosses before 30 minutes had been played were a sign that he was in the mood; it was just a pity for Barca that his teammates evidently weren't on the same wavelength.
The opening goal, when it did arrive, was a thing of beauty, however.
After Frenkie de Jong had won the ball and had it played back to him by Rashford, the Dutchman's first-time pass to Lamine was met with a delicious first-time curling shot back across Albacete keeper Raul Lizoain.
A 14th goal of the season for a player who's still just 18 years of age is a phenomenal record. Not to mention his career stats to date then stood at a scarcely believable 38 goals and 41 assists after that strike. He's also already made 134 senior appearances for the club in all competitions.
More than Messi and Ronaldo at the same age
Lamine's output might not sound overly impressive to some, but to give some context and perspective as to how much of an impact the youngster is having on world football, and why many are tipping him to be a future Ballon d'Or winner, Messi had scored 11 goals (and provided six assists) before his 19th birthday in all competitions, and Ronaldo had managed just six goals (and seven assists).
The goal - an 11th contribution in his last nine Copa del Rey games (five goals, six assists) - set the visitors on their way, and meant that Barca had scored in their last 12 games in the Spanish Cup - their longest run of games with a goal in the competition since a run of 20 matches from December 2nd 2015 to January 11th 2018.
Only Dani Olmo will then know how he missed more than one presentable chance to put Barca further ahead just after the break.
Between him and Lamine, they'd have seven and 10 touches respectively in the Albacete box - more than any other players on the pitch - and along with Olmo's six shots in the game being the highest total for a Barca player in this season's Copa del Rey, it denoted their constant attacking menace.
Rashford coming into his own
Though the stats will also show that Lamine won only six of his 13 one-on-one duels during the game, it could hardly be considered a shabby effort either, when taking into account that only Albacete's Agus Medina won more (10) over the course of 90 minutes.
To the hosts' credit, they refused to buckle or wither, and in Medina, they had one of the game's outstanding players. Four tackles attempted, and three won, helped to give his side energy, even after Ronald Araujo powered home Barca's second from a corner.
The set piece was delivered by Rashford, who is really coming into his own during his loan spell with the club. That assist was his 10th of the 2025/26 campaign, and along with the 10 goals that he's scored in all competitions so far, he's certainly giving Barca some food for thought this summer.
The visitors continued to control the game, but thanks to some wayward finishing and last-ditch defending, they were unable to add to the scoreline.
Lamine remained a thorn in Albacete's side, setting up no less than five chances for his colleagues before Javi Moreno gave the hosts some late hope with a superb diving header in the 87th minute.
Just their second effort on target, it was followed by a disallowed Ferran Torres goal, and another goalbound effort in stoppage time from Fran Gamez, which Barcelona somehow managed to scramble off the line.
At the final whistle, anyone watching the game will have again learned that, yes, Lamine Yamal definitely isn't all hype, and is the real deal.
