Luke Littler, an ordinary looking teenager wearing a grey hoodie and joggers, has spent the morning at Manchester United’s training ground and then played darts with Christian Eriksen and Harry Maguire. Like millions of others, the footballers had been floored in recent weeks by Littler’s extraordinary ability to throw darts and hold his nerve in testing psychological battles as, aged 16, he reached the world championship final on his debut.
I like the fact that Littler, an ardent United fan, seems unimpressed by Eriksen’s and Maguire’s darting skills. They are good men but look distinctly average with the arrows to a kid who routinely produces darts wizardry. He is now back home in Warrington, having turned 17 last Sunday, and Littler pauses when I ask him to describe the best moment of his life-changing month.
