Luke Littler has been warned about celebrities ‘jumping on his bandwagon’ after his stunning breakthrough.
The 17-year-old has gone on to become one of darts’ biggest stars since his dream run to the World Championship. He has kept up his stunning momentum since then by winning the Dutch Masters on his PDC European Tour debut.
Littler has also enjoyed a brilliant start to life in the Premier League. Despite his success, former world champion Dennis Priestley has concerns over people taking advantage of the youngster.
Speaking to OLBG after David Beckham's son Romeo had challenged Littler to a match, he said: "It'd be incredible to get David Beckham involved in darts - I'm not so sure about Romeo. Is he just trying to jump on the bandwagon of Luke Littler's media attention?
"We can't forget, Luke Littler is still so young and we have to be a little bit concerned for the lad. He's going to be forced to turn his head if all these top stars are wanting to be seen in his presence.
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"As long as they can play and they're proper darts enthusiasts then it's all well and good but if it's going to extract anything good from our game then you can only go so far with celebrities jumping on the Littler bandwagon."
Despite Priestley’s warning, Littler’s recent impact on darts cannot be overstated. PDC chairman, Eddie Hearn, has claimed that the Warrington-born starlet’s emergence has led to the sport being one of the most viewed in the country.
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“We’re seeing our viewing figures, you know, the one thing is darts is continuously disrespected really, as a sport,” he said on Piers Morgan Uncensored. “The viewing figures are second only to Premier League football and, actually, during the World Championships they were on the same level as Premier League football."
Littler will hope to refocus himself sooner rather than later after being knocked out of the Players Championship 7 in Leicester. After beating former World Championship final foe Luke Humphries, he was eliminated by Ross Smith after a 6-5 defeat.
Chris Dobey went on to win the whole event after an 8-4 success over Josh Rock. Littler will be back in action on Tuesday in the Players Championship 8.
His next assignment then sees Littler resume his Premier League commitments. Night 11 takes place at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Littler currently sits top of the standings after winning the last two nights. Humphries is just one point behind after enjoying three of his own successes so far.
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