Michael van Gerwen snubs Luke Littler with brutally honest Luke Humphries remark

Michael van Gerwen believes Luke Humphries has been the biggest casualty of fellow player Luke Littler's rapid rise to fame, despite 'Cool Hand' enjoying more success. Darts in 2024 has largely revolved around the two Lukes: Humphries and Littler, with both players exceptionally dominating the scene.

Their competition reached a peak in the World Championship final where Humphries narrowly defeated a then 16-year-old Littler. However, Littler struck back in their ongoing rivalry, defeating Humphries in the Premier League final earlier this year.

But it's Warrington's Littler who has captured media attention and public fascination, something Van Gerwen pointed out was disregarding the achievements of world No. 1 Humphries.

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In an interview with Express Sport before the upcoming World Grand Prix, Van Gerwen said: "I think the one person who gets penalised the most [from intense media scrutiny], it's Luke [Humphries].

"You [the media] only talk about Luke Littler and it is Luke Humphries is the one calling the shots at the moment."

Van Gerwen anticipates that Littler will remain a strong contender in the upcoming tournaments this year. However, he also suggests that the young star may experience fluctuations in his form.

Speaking about the 2024 World Championship runner-up, Van Gerwen remarked: "But he's young, he's going to have his downs. That will happen in darts, that will happen to anyone, no matter how good you are.

"Phil Taylor, he was unstoppable, until he didn't win a tournament for more than a year I think. It was 18 months I think.

"That's the way darts goes, you're going to have good periods, bad periods, you have to deal with the circumstances. The question is how he deals with it."

Van Gerwen himself isn't planning on retiring from the oche anytime soon. When asked about his plans for the next five years, the 35-year-old Dutch star responded: "I'll definitely be there. I'm not going to stop in five years, they'll need to do really well to keep me off my position and if they want to win as many tournaments [as me] in five years time I can't see that happening, but you never know.

"Nobody knew there was a kid from Holland coming on the block who made Phil Taylor retire, do you know what I mean? That's how quickly it can go."

The BoyleSports World Grand Prix, which offers an Early Payout on every match, starts on Monday 7th October at Leicester's Mattioli Arena.