NATHAN ASPINALL has revealed Luke Littler “does his head in” when they play darts against each other.
But Aspinall also warned the 17-year-old he needs to keep his wits about him as he progresses in his career.
Littler topped the Premier League Darts table heading into Thursday’s night’s final, where he will face Michael Smith in the semi-final before a potential final with one of Luke Humphries or Michael van Gerwen.
And while things have been going well for The Nuke since he burst on to the scene at the Darts World Championship, close friend Aspinall has warned not everything will remain rosy for him.
The Asp said: “I’ve known Luke for a long time. Everything is roses for him at the minute.
“He’s got nothing to defend. He’s playing at the top of his game. Absolutely nothing to lose. It’s all nicey-nicey now.
“I was involved in a mental health documentary on Sky Sports. A fantastic piece. It was me, Luke Humphries, Michael Smith and Peter Wright, how we dealt with mental health issues.
“I thought it was a great insight which could stop the hatred towards some darts players. I don’t want that to happen to Luke. He’s a young lad.
“I keep saying to people, if he had my head, God help us! We might as well all pack up.”
Littler has taken booing in his stride at events in Liverpool and Leeds, though the heckling he has received comes courtesy of his well-advertised support of Manchester United.
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Aspinall failed to make the cut for the Premier League Darts play-offs after suffering defeat to Smith in the quarter-finals of the final night of action before the finals.
The 16 night tournament has seen it’s share of drama, while it also highlighted the friendship between Aspinall and Littler.
Not that the Stockport thrower is particularly pleased about being overshadowed by Littler at the oche.
The 32-year-old added: “Listen, he’s a rival but he’s also a friend. I want the best for him. He beats me all the time, which does my head in.
“I want him to understand that sport is tough, not everything is roses, just have your wits about you.
“That’s what I am trying to do. But he’s cleverer than he acts.”
Amid his warning to Littler about the abuse he may receive in the future, Aspinall has opened up on how he deals with vile trolls.
The world No.4 said: “I’m not going to name the names. It’s not fair on them.
LUKE LITTLER has taken the darts world by storm since exploding onto the scene at the PDC World Championship.
The Nuke reached the final on his Ally Pally debut at just 16 years of age – smashing records along the way.
He has since joined Jude Bellingham on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list.
And the teenage titan even had to snub an invite from the WWE.
The Sun exclusively revealed that Littler is plotting to create a fitness empire.
He is also cashing in away from the Oche thanks to an Instagram side hustle.
And he’s even the face of a brand new cereal.
Check out all of our Luke Littler stories here.
“But I know there are players currently playing on the Tour that have absolutely had breakdowns over abuse they get on social media.
“What can do we about that? The problem we have is that darts players are so accessible.
“I speak to some of the footballers on Instagram but predominantly speaking, the accounts are looked after by companies.
“I have a guy that looks after mine. I have put something in place now that if I lose a game, say if I play bad, I won’t touch my Instagram for 2-3 days.
“I have a guy who filters through everything. Gets rid of everything. If I want to be nosy and check my messages, there’s nowt there.
“What will happen is the more young lads and children come through, the bigger the money is, the bigger the PDC get, there’ll be teams that look after social media for players.
“Like they do with footballers and golfers. I don’t think we are far off that if I’m deadly honest. I’ve put things in place to prevent me from getting hatred and it’s working perfectly.
“It’s going to get worse, the more successful people are, the more people want to put them down.
“It’s in any walk of life, it doesn’t matter if you are in sports. People don’t like people doing well. Simple as that.”
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