Michael van Gerwen dominated the PDC for years but there’s been a seismic shift in 2024 with the dominance of Luke Littler and Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen is reportedly not happy about it.
Mighty Mike won three World Darts Championships in six years as well as 33 other major tournament wins, but has seen his victories dry up since the emergence of Luke Littler and Luke Humphries.
According to World No. 23 Joe Cullen, Michael van Gerwen is ‘not happy’ about the arrival of Humphries and Littler.
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Michael van Gerwen has been replaced by Luke Littler and Luke Humphries
2022 Masters winner Cullen has noticed a big change in the darting pecking order as van Gerwen has been knocked off his perch.
Speaking to Online Darts, Cullen said: “Everybody’s talking about darts because of Luke Littler. I know Luke Humphries won the worlds.
“They are the two to beat and I think people like Michael van Gerwen, people like that are looking at them and he’s not happy with it.
“It used to be Van Gerwen then everyone else, but it’s not that now, it’s the two Lukes and then everyone else.”
Mighty Mike has been drawn on the opposite side of the draw to Humphries and Littler and can only meet them in the final of the Alexandra Palace event.
Michael van Gerwen breaks unfortunate three-year record
Mighty Mike is set to end this year without a major for the first time since 2021 as van Gerwen’s stranglehold on the PDC Tour continues to slip.
van Gerwen won the World Series Finals in 2023 and the World Matchplay in 2022 but couldn’t capture a PDC premier tournament in 2024.
He did, however, win two Players Championship events and the Hungarian Darts Trophy.