Darts sensation Luke Littler has been warned that his honeymoon period with the sport will soon be over as he stands on the brink of becoming the youngest ever winner of the Premier League. Having finished top of the standings, on Thursday ‘the Nuke’ will take on Michael Smith on finals night at the O2 Arena in London, with the victor to face Michael Van Gerwen or Luke Humphries for the right to be crowned 2024 champion.

Littler has proved a revelation ever since he burst onto the scene at the 2023/24 PDC World Championship, embarking on a remarkable run to the final.

There, he was beaten by Humphries, but has since gone on to claim the Bahrain Masters, Belgian Open and Austrian Open alongside his Premier League heroics.

The 17-year-old has regularly enjoyed the bulk of the crowd support at UK venues, although played the role of pantomime villain in the Premier League meeting in Liverpool. The Manchester United fan put his finger to the lips in response to being booed by fans, and had the last laugh by going on to win the tournament.

But now Nathan Aspinall, who himself only missed out on the final four after losing to Smith in Sheffield last Thursday, has warned that hostilities lie in wait for Littler, especially online. “I have known Luke a long time and everything is roses for him at the minute. He is playing at the top of his game and he’s got absolutely nothing to lose. It’s all nicey-nicey now,” he said.

"He’s a young lad, I want the best for him although he beats me all the time, which does my head in, but I already see bits and bobs which are not nice. I want him to understand that sport is tough, not everything is roses, just have your wits about you. He’s cleverer than he acts, he knows what’s going on.”

‘The Asp’ cited a Sky documentary that aired this month ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, which featured the 32-year-old alongside fellow darts stars Humphries, Smith, and Peter Wright. The players spoke about their experiences of social media abuse, with Humphries candidly explaining how he’d struggled with weight loss and anxiety after receiving vehement criticism.

And Aspinall said there were other players on the PDC tour who had endured issues. "Just because you are an elite sportsman with money, everyone thinks your life is roses, but it isn’t,” he continued.

“I am not going to name names, but I know of players currently playing on the Tour who have absolutely had breakdowns over abuse they get on social media. It’s going to get worse but hopefully in years to come, the players will have enough things in place to prevent anything bad happening.”

Following his exploits at the Ally Pally, Littler gained an extra 650,000 followers on Instagram. That number has continued to surge, with the star’s posts now viewed by 1.3million fellow users.

It’s been a similar story on X, with ‘the Nuke’ gaining an extra 100,000 followers in the three weeks that followed his world championship debut. His current number has now exceeded 196,500 people, with Littler regularly posting tournament reviews and updates for his fans.