EXCLUSIVE
Simon Jordan tells Luke Littler to get ‘the right people’ around him as he makes Emma Raducanu comparison
talkSPORT's Simon Jordan insists that darts sensation Luke Littler needs 'the right people' around him amid increased media interest.
The 16-year-old is the semi-finals of the PDC World Championship and will face Rob Cross on Tuesday night for a place in the final.
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Littler is the youngest player to reach this stage of the tournament and has impressed many with his fantastic performances.
As a result, the media have been heavily invested in his progression at Alexandra Palace and his activities away from the oche.
He was spotted with James Maddison at Tottenham's 3-1 win over Bournemouth the day before his 5-1 win against Brendan Dolan.
Amid the media's interest, Jordan wants Littler to have the right people behind him and made a comparison to Emma Raducanu, the tennis star who has also excelled at a young age - winning the US Open in 2021 as a qualifier.
READ MORE ON LUKE LITTLER
"It's the nature of the beast, you have to understand what the media is," he said on White and Jordan. "It's a butterfly, it lights upon you and then it flies off somewhere else.
"You have to look at it from those prisms and you need the right people around you, that's what I said about Emma Raducanu, going off on a tennis tangent for one second which is get the right advice, get people around you.
"The media will be there and if your success comes then they will report the success. Right now you're the latest commodity that people want to focus on."
Jim White asked if Littler was wrong to be pictured at the Spurs game and compared it to Raducanu being pictured in a magazine, but Jordan said: "I don't think he's wrong.
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"What I suggested was is that she [Raducanu] shouldn't be going off to the Met Ball and doing a whole raft of other things that I thought would distract her.
"She's at the beginning of her journey, [winning the US Open] wonderful achievement, remarkable achievement, but take it into context.
Heartwarming footage shows Luke Littler showing off darts skills as a baby
"You've got a long career ahead of you, you've got lots to develop, you don't need all these distractions and it's proven to be somewhat right."
White again asked if Littler was wrong to be pictured with Maddison and Jordan explained: "Not necessarily, depends what kind of character the kid is.
"He's in the middle of a tournament and there's a media interest, he went to a football match and as a result of it, people were interested in the fact that he went to a football match and took pictures of him.
"I don't think it's quite the same thing as commercially engaging with every single brand, going to red carpet events and being the focus of attention for a social butterfly media mentality which will focus you in the wrong direction."
Listen to the PDC World Championship semi-finals live on talkSPORT 2.
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