‘It’s like comparing Messi with Pele’ – Michael van Gerwen reveals why it’s impossible to compare him to darts legend

2 weeks ago 16

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN believes comparisons between him and darts legend Phil Taylor are like comparing Lionel Messi and Pele.

The three-time PDC world champion will have his eye on a fourth world title when his darts World Championship campaign gets underway later this month.

Michael van Gerwen has said you can’t compare him to Phil Taylor[/caption]

Regardless of how the event goes for the Dutchman, he is a modern icon of darts.

However, Van Gerwen believes it is folly to compare his record to 16-time world champion Taylor.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the 35-year-old said: “You can’t compare Phil Taylor to me because we’re playing darts in different eras. It’s like comparing Messi with Pele.

“I deserve one or two more world titles minimum. You need to be realistic.

“I’ve won more than Barney (Raymond van Barneveld). He’s a four-time Lakeside champion.

“He won one PDC world title and that was in 2007! I’ve had so many great memories at Ally Pally, great wins, but some tough defeats – that’s the way darts goes.”

On his hunt for a fourth world title, he added: “I think I deserve to win the title more than three times but that’s the way darts goes unfortunately sometimes.

“I probably deserve to win four or five in my opinion, but I’ve still got plenty of time.

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“There’s no point looking back because it’s not going to bring me any more titles. Questions like ‘could have’ and ‘should have’ doesn’t count.”

Van Gerwen will face one of James Hurrell and Jim Long in the second round for his opening game at Ally Pally on December 20.

The front runners for this years world championship title are last years finalists Luke Humphries and Luke Littler.

Humphries is the reigning champion and world No1 while Littler has remarkably rocketed up to No4 in the world standings in his debut year.

But Van Gerwen, who admits he has had to prepare differently after a tougher year than usual at the oche, has said he is not worried about what his rivals are doing.

He said: “My preparation has been slightly different to previous years but you have to deal with circumstances.

“I’ve been playing a little bit better in the last month but at the moment there is still more work to do. I have to play a bit better and more consistent – that’s the way forward.

“Too many things [have gone wrong]. Little bit of confidence, things are not clicking, but it’s something I have to work on…

“I’m not really worried about what they (Humphries and Littler) do because I have to deal with my own situation.

“The world championship is a different tournament and I never play bad there so that’s a good thing. My darts have to do the talking now.”

Darts World Championship full draw

Second round draw (seeded vs first-round winner)

Luke Humphries vs Thibault Tricole or Joe Comito

Raymond van Barneveld vs Nick Kenny or Stowe Buntz

James Wade vs Jermaine Wattimena or Stefan Bellmont

Peter Wright vs Wesley Plaisier or Ryusei Azemoto

Stephen Bunting vs Alan Soutar or Kai Gotthardt

Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Madars Ramza or Christian Kist

Damon Heta vs Connor Scutt or Ben Robb

Mike De Decker vs Luke Woodhouse or Lourence Ilagan

Luke Littler vs Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock

Ritchie Edhouse vs Ian White or Sandro Eric Sosing

Danny Noppert vs Ryan Joyce or Darius Labanauskas

Ryan Searle vs Mensur Suljovic or Matt Campbell

Rob Cross vs Scott Williams or Niko Springer

Gian van Veen vs Ricardo Pietreczko or Xiaochen Zong

Nathan Aspinall vs Cameron Menzies or Leonard Gates

Andrew Gilding vs Martin Lukeman or Nitin Kumar

Michael Smith vs Kevin Doets or Noa-Lynn van Leuven

Krzysztof Ratajski vs Richard Veenstra or Alexis Toylo

Chris Dobey vs Stephen Burton or Alexander Merkx

Josh Rock vs Karel Sedlacek or Rhys Griffin

Jonny Clayton vs Mickey Mansell or Tomoya Goto

Daryl Gurney vs Florian Hempel or Jeffrey de Zwaan

Gerwyn Price vs Kim Huybrechts or Keane Barry

Joe Cullen vs Wessel Nijman or Cameron Carolissen

Michael van Gerwen vs James Hurrell or Jim Long

Brendan Dolan vs Chris Landman or Lok Yin Lee

Gary Anderson vs Jeffrey de Graaf or Rashad Sweeting

Ross Smith vs Jim Williams or Paolo Nebrida

Dave Chisnall vs Ricky Evans or Gordon Mathers

Gabriel Clemens vs Niels Zonneveld or Robert Owen

Dimitri Van den Bergh vs William O’Connor or Dylan Slevin

Martin Schindler vs Callan Rydz or Romeo Grbavac

List of all-time Darts World Champions

BELOW is a list of Darts world champions by year.

The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.

That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.

1994 – Dennis Priestley
1995 – Phil Taylor
1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
2003 – John Part
2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
2008 – John Part (2)
2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
2011 – Adrian Lewis
2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
2014 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Gary Anderson
2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
2018 – Rob Cross
2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
2020 – Peter Wright
2021 – Gerwyn Price
2022 – Peter Wright (2)
2023 – Michael Smith
2024 – Luke Humphries

Most World Titles

14 – Phil Taylor
3 – Michael van Gerwen
2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries

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