Luke Littler ‘even bigger than Phil Taylor’ as darts legend reveals teenager has totally transformed the sport

MICHAEL SMITH claims 17-year-old Luke Littler is already a bigger name in darts than the sport's greatest ever legend - Phil Taylor.

Smith was dazzled by Littler's aura despite pipping him in the semi-final of the whizkid's Premier League debut.

The 2023 world champion believes "everyone’s fallen in love with him" after seeing the history-making teenager work his magic on the opening night of the Prem season in Cardiff.

Littler beat his 2024 World Championship final conqueror Luke Humphries 6-2 in the quarters before falling 6-5 to Smith in a thriller.

Smith, 33, then sunk Welshman Gerwyn Price 6-2 in the final.

But in the land of the valleys the Merseysider believes it is Littler who is reaching new heights of popularity in darts - even compared to Taylor.

Smith said: “I actually thought in the semi-final Luke Littler was Welsh.

"It’s going to be every week, it doesn’t matter where it is.

“Everyone’s fallen in love with him. He’s even bigger than Phil Taylor who won 16 world titles, Luke is the most popular thing in darts.”

And Smith is happy to exploit what could be a new era for the sport.

He explained: “I’m going to ride the wave. People keep following, sponsors keep coming in, and the prize money is going up for us lads.

“When I walked in this afternoon there were no interviews. Luke Littler walked in and it was ‘can you do this one, can you do that one?’.

“That was me last year. This time I got to sit and chill, break up my time on the board and it worked.”