Phil Taylor willing to play Luke Littler but only under one condition

Darts icon and 16-time world champion Phil Taylor doesn't sound overly keen on facing Luke Littler, but he would play the teenager under one condition.

Littler walked away with a life-changing £200,000 prize pot after beating Christian Kist, Andrew Gilding, Matt Campbell, Raymond van Barneveld, Brendan Dolan and Rob Cross at this year's World Darts Championship.

The 17-year-old then secured a sum of £20,000 when he recorded a convincing 8-5 win over three-time PDC world champion Michael van Gerwen at the Bahrain Masters.

And earlier this month, Littler bagged another five-figure sum after beating Jim Williams, Luke Woodhouse, Michele Turetta and Ryan Searle on his Players Championship debut.

It has been a whirlwind couple of months for the teenager and naturally, his emergence has got everybody talking – including arguably the greatest of all time, Phil Taylor.

Speaking to talkSPORT about Littler's rise, 'The Power' was full of praise for the Runcorn-born thrower – and even credited Littler for getting him back into watching events on TV.

"I think he is absolutely fantastic, I have got to be honest with you, and I know he's got the backs up of the other pros which I love to see," Taylor said.

"I wasn't really watching darts, I wasn't really interested in it and he's made me interested in watching it again.

"I even watched some of the streaming yesterday [Players Championship 2 on Tuesday] so that's not me! But I've really enjoyed watching him.

"He's a great little player, he's got a great little personality and it hasn't affected him yet. I don't think it ever will. I think he will keep his feet on the ground no matter how many tournaments he achieves."

Image credit: Getty

When asked if he would like to face him in a match, Taylor said: "No [I don't want to play him]. Not yet, I don't want to play him to be quite honest with you!"

Taylor, who won 214 professional titles and was runner-up in 48 finals during a trophy-laden career, was then prodded on whether he would face Littler in an exhibition match.

The 63-year-old replied: "I'd play him in an exhibition, yeah. One leg of 301, I go first!"

Now that's a leg of darts we would like to see at some point in the future.

Topics: Luke Littler, Darts

Jack Kenmare

Senior Journalist at SPORTbible with a passion for long-form journalism. Almost 10 years’ experience across online and print.

@jackkenmare_