Luke Littler stunned Nathan Aspinall during their practice sessions together, with the Asp saying the Nuke ‘did things on the dartboard in my house that I’ve never seen anyone do.’
Both men will be in action as the Premier League gets underway on Thursday night in Cardiff, with Littler taking on world champion Luke Humphries and Aspinall facing home favourite Gerwyn Price.
The latest challenge comes for the teenager after his immense run to the World Championship final, triumph at the Bahrain Darts Masters and runner-up spot at the Dutch Darts Masters.
Aspinall is expecting the 17-year-old to acquit himself well in the Premier League, having seen first hand what the teenage sensation can do, being in the same management stable.
‘Luke is an absolute credit to himself and the game of darts. What he’s done is absolutely ridiculous. It’s a freak thing, unprecedented,’ Aspinall told Metro.co.uk.
‘He’s handled everything that’s come with it so well. I see him more than most players on tour because we’re in the same stable. I ask him how he’s coping and honestly he’s not even bothered, as long as he’s got his phone with FIFA on, that’s all he’s bothered about.
‘He’s a great kid. He’s got to keep his feet on the floor, which I think he will. He’s got that arrogance on the stage, but that comes from being a winner.
‘His practice sessions, when I’ve played with him, I tell the other lads, it’s ridiculous. It’s like playing level 12 on the computer. He’s so good.’
Aspinall spent a huge amount of time in the build-up to the World Championship practicing with then reigning world champ Michael Smith, but the Asp says the Nuke was even more impressive on the practice board than the Bully Boy.
‘I hope Smithy doesn’t see this, but he was a hell of a lot better than Smithy,’ said Aspinall of Littler. ‘Obviously the practice with me and Michael was a lot better, more structured and I got a lot more out of it. But Luke Littler did things on the dartboard in my house that I’ve never seen anyone do. That’s the God’s honest truth.
‘We play a game called 170. If you take 170 out you get two points, if you take it out in six darts you get one point and it’s first to six. He took four 170s out in six visits to the board. I’m good on the big fish, I never lose at that game and he absolutely tore me a new one. He’s amazing. A unique talent.
‘He learned darts at the age kids learn to walk and talk, when your brain is like a sponge. It’s second nature to him. I didn’t pick a dart up until I was 17, the age that Luke is now, which is mad to think. He’s the most natural dart player that there’ll probably ever be.’
Aspinall has the same fears for Littler in the Premier League that many hold, worried that the intense schedule on the PDC calendar will be a bit too much for him to keep up the immense standards he has shown so far.
‘He’s got a fantastic future ahead of him, but I do think the Premier League is going to be tough for him,’ said the World Matchplay champion. ‘Even though he’s probably number two in the world at the moment, performance-wise.
‘The test is when you’re absolutely knackered, all you want to do is go home, but you’ve got three more days to go after being on the road for two weeks. We’ll have to see how he deals with them situations.
‘He can win the Premier League, of course he can. Will he win the Premier League? I think he’ll struggle.
‘At the moment every week he’s doing something new. The Worlds, then in the Premier League, then Bahrain, a 9-darter, a final. I think the first month or so he’ll be enjoying it, he’s got loads of exciting moments.
‘Then after that the Euro Tours and Pro Tours kick in. The travelling is a nightmare logistically, it can be absolutely grim. When that starts there’s more to it than just darts. We’re used to it, we’ve done it for years. He’s not and he will struggle. So I don’t think he’ll win it. I do think he’ll make top four. But I’ll win it.’
MORE : Nathan Aspinall: Premier League has seen my lowest point and greatest achievement in darts
MORE : James Wade warns Luke Littler the Premier League campaign will ‘come at a cost’
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