Say the words Michael van Gerwen and, no matter where you are on the planet, at least someone will know who you are talking about.
In fact, head deep into an African rainforest, shout “MVG”, and a tribe of natives, barely touched by civilisation, will come running out with a set of darts and start chanting his name.
Only a few of the elders remember the immortal Phil Taylor. And news has yet to filter through about Luke Littler there. So, at the moment, the Dutch juggernaut’s shirt is the only one you’ll see. Well, that and circa-1980 replica Manchester United jerseys, probably.
However, the legend is in a bit of a pickle right now. I don’t mean he’s falling off the face of the Earth. But such is the bar – higher than a hippy on day one of Woodstock – that the great man has set himself, anything other than a few TV majors a year is seen as failure.
At the time of writing, he sits seventh on the PDC Order of Merit. Far from a disaster – unless you’re Michael van Gerwen. A man used to being perched on top of the tree, proudly flaunting his bright green plumage.
Even that has now changed. Mighty Mike wears mainly black. A nightmare for anyone with thousands of ‘Green Machine’ keyrings in stock. Yet I doubt he cares about that. Just the whole ‘sat in seventh’ thing.
It’s been almost four years since Michael won a PDC ranking major and more than three since he lifted a televised title. Yes, there have been Euro Tour, World Series and Players Championship triumphs during that time. But for him, they are considered consolation prizes.
There are extenuating circumstances. Countless facial operations to sort his teeth out, which were probably about as much fun as getting your penis stuck in a hoover (apparently). Then, of course, there’s the whole divorce thing, which is never pretty.
More alarming, darts-wise, is that MVG is provisionally placed 19th on the year-end Order of Merit. That basically means if he doesn’t defend what he won two years ago, that’s where he’ll end up come January.
A slight silver lining is on the horizon. Early exits in the 2024 World Grand Prix, European Championship, Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals mean that any good run in those events later this year will earn bonus ranking money. It’s the World Championship he really has to worry about after reaching the final last time. That’s £200,000 coming off unless he matches or betters that run.
Now onto the burning question. If Van Gerwen is languishing outside the top 16 when Premier League selection time comes around, will he get a wildcard?
The answer is emphatically yes.
There’s a rumour doing the rounds that he has a five-year contract. I’m not saying that’s a fact, but my source hasn’t been wrong yet.
Even putting that aside, he is Michael van Gerwen. As long as he is fit, well and able, surely he has to be included purely because of who he is and what he has achieved in the game.
The venues will sell – don’t worry about that. But this bloke makes people tune in. And that’s what the PDC and Sky ultimately care about: viewing figures.
With all due respect to anyone else who may be under consideration, MVG is box office – and rightly so.
Personally, I don’t think he’s playing badly. Perhaps not as consistently as he once did, but that’s to be expected. You also have to factor Luke Littler into the equation. If that lad is cleaning up, no one is winning anything.
The strength in depth within the PDC is growing. We are now down near where the Titanic ended up. That deep!
There are new winners on the PDC circuit almost every month. This year alone we’ve seen Luke Woodhouse, Beau Greaves, Kevin Doets and Henry Coates, to name just a few, all get off the mark.
In summary, Michael van Gerwen is still an elite darts player. Rankings don’t lie – that’s the way the system works.
But no matter what happens from here on in, the Dutchman’s place on the tungsten Mount Rushmore is as safe as a traffic warden’s annoying persistence.
That is, until we discover a way to clone Luke Littler. Then South Dakota will have four of the Warringtonian’s boat race chiselled into rock.
