Luke Littler breaks silence over Van Barneveld spat as he reacts to overeager fan who committed a darts taboo

Forward-thinking Luke Littler has made peace with Raymond van Barneveld after their public spat over text messages gone unanswered.

Five-times world champion Barney had been left gutted Luke the Nuke didn’t answer when he sent the 17-year-old boy wonder congratulatory messages after his triumph at the Belgian Darts Open this month. And in a huff, RVB playfully admonished Littler in a scathing interview with a Dutch media outlet, scoffing: “Dude’s on his phone all day… f*** off.”

#But after winning his first Premier League night in Belfast, the Warrington whizzkid revealed everything has been smoothed over with van Barneveld – one of his boyhood idols. Asked if he had been hurt by RVB’s comments, Littler said the storm in a teacup had subsided after van Barneveld contacted his manager Martin Foulds. He said: “Disappointed? No – he messaged Martin and said, ‘Don’t listen to them, I didn’t say anything’. That’s it.”

Now he’s dealt with the truce, the whole truce and nothing but the truce, Littler can plough on with his maiden Premier League campaign in good heart. He beat Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and Nathan Aspinall to win his first night in the competition, at the ninth attempt, on Thursday night.

During the walk-on before his impressive demolition of van Gerwen, Luke the Nuke was briefly disconcerted when a fan appeared to tug his throwing arm momentarily – a definite taboo for spectators who line the walkway hoping for selfies or autographs. Littler said: “I don’t know who he was but he pulled my arm and it hurt a little bit. That’s why I went straight on stage, I didn’t interact with my music. I heard everyone singing but I just needed to relax. But my hand is fine. It worked out well.” Littler now heads to