DE DECKER DISMISSES PREMIER LEAGUE SELECTION
13/08/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
MIKE DE DECKER admits it would be “slaughter” if he was put in the Premier League next year.
‘The Real Deal’ made the final at the Australian Masters last week on his World Series debut.
World No. 19 De Decker whitewashed Luke Humphries at the quarter-final with a stellar 103.66 average before falling to Luke Littler in Sunday’s showpiece.
But De Decker has endured a difficult year after failing to reach the quarter-finals in any of the four majors and not winning a ProTour title.
Belgian thrower De Decker was brutally honest about his prospects of featuring in the Premier League.
He said: “We’ll see. On the basis of my year so far, I’d say: don’t put me in, because it’d be a slaughter.
“My results just haven’t been good enough.
“But there are still plenty of Majors to come, so things can change. Six months from now it could look completely different.”
De Decker had a brilliant 2024 where he won the World Grand Prix and Players Championship 16.
However, the 29-year-old began his trip Down Under with plenty of doubters after a difficult past few months at the oche.
He added: “In my first match I was a bit nervous.
“A lot of people were saying: ‘He doesn’t deserve to be there.’ You can’t help but have that in the back of your mind.
“But I got through the first round and from there it went pretty well until the final. T
“The final wasn’t my best, but if you make a final on your debut you can’t really complain — and I certainly don’t.
“If people are saying you don’t deserve it, you want to show them that you do.”
De Decker revealed his match with Littler at Wollongong was marked by jeers but heaped praise on the teen sensation who won 8-4 and secured the crown.
He explained: “This time it wasn’t aimed specifically at me, but at both of us.
“It was just done in an annoying way. I mentioned it once, but it’s always going to happen to some degree.
“I don’t want to waste my time and energy on it, so I just left it and it didn’t really bother me.
“The first thing he said after winning was, ‘I want to go to bed!’ I don’t think he was really up for it.
“But even when he throws a bit nonchalantly, he’s still brilliant. The kid is just a phenomenon.
“What he’s shown over the last year, year and a half, is exceptional — and he keeps doing it.”
Image by Taylor Lanning.
