BARNEY: PRIME TAYLOR WOULD BEAT LITTLER

RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD believes Phil Taylor would have beaten Luke Littler in his prime.

The five-time world champion admits Littler is the man to beat once again and has the potential to dominate darts for years to come, following in the footsteps of icons like himself and Taylor.

But while the Dutchman holds Littler in the highest regard, he insists the current world champion would have struggled against a peak-era Taylor.

‘The Power’ ruled darts for more than three decades, winning a record-breaking 87 major trophies and an unmatched 16 World Championships.

Van Barneveld told BoyleSports: “I admire Phil Taylor more, he was so, so impressive.

“The night he hit the two nine-darters, that was insane.

“But now I’m sitting on the couch with my wife, and we’re watching this young kid, 18 years of age. How unbelievable it is for a kid.

“Already, for the last two years, when he turned up at 16, he was beating everyone in the world apart from Luke Humphries in the world final.

“Then one year later, he won it all. He won the Premier League, runner-up in the Premier League. It’s unbelievably good that a guy from 16, 17, 18 years of age can do this every single week, and I have a lot of respect for that.

“Sometimes you wonder, what is your diet? What are you eating? I want the same. But he’s relaxed. If you see him in the back, he’s always on his phone playing games.

“You never see him in trouble. Everything still goes well for him. But I’m very curious, every player has his worst moments, and maybe those will come, and we’ll see how he gets out of that.

“But in their primes, I still think Taylor wins. Because Luke likes to play in a certain rhythm, and Phil always controlled the pace himself.

“I don’t think many players played their A-game against him, not many. Apart from Van Gerwen, maybe Anderson or Rob Cross when he beat Phil in the final, maybe me.

“I think Phil in his prime and Luke in his prime, it’s so hard to compare, but I’d still say Phil Taylor.

“Luke Littler is the best at the moment, the best player. He won the Matchplay, he won the UK Open.

“At the World Series of Darts he lost to an excellent Michael van Gerwen, but he’s the one to beat right now because I am really enthusiastic about his game.”

World No.1 Littler is chasing history as he looks to become the first player since Gary Anderson to lift the Sid Waddell Trophy in back-to-back years.

The Warrington ace has already racked up NINE PDC major titles — the fourth-highest total in history — at just 18 years old.

Littler has powered past Darius Labanauskas and David Davies as he marches on in his bid to become the first player to bank the £1million top prize at Ally Pally.

Image by Taylor Lanning.