Raymond van Barneveld has angrily hit out after he previously revealed he was ignored by darts sensation Luke Littler.
The five-time world champion insists he did not tell the teenager to 'F off' and says he has cleared the air with Littler's management team.
Van Barneveld lost to Littler at the World Darts Championship in December and the pair are yet to meet on the oche since.
The youngster previously described the Dutchman as one of his idols growing up but has not responded to a few messages he has received.
Raymond van Barneveld has hit back following his comments on Luke Littler
Getty/Online Darts
In an interview with Sportnieuws.nl in March, Van Barneveld said he was 'done' with making an effort with Littler.
It was also reported that the 56-year-old said 'Dude's on his phone all day, f*** off!'
But Van Barneveld insists he did not make the expletive comment and has hit out at the journalist who interviewed him.
He told Online Darts: "It was really weird. The guy was with me on the phone and he was talking about Luke Littler.
"I said he was a really quiet guy, maybe shy, I don't know him that good. I played him at the Worlds but I don't see him that often, I'm not in the Premier League.
"I've only met him a couple of times. So he's really quiet, I sent him a couple of text messages during the Worlds, no reply.
"I can understand because he's busy and maybe he got thousands of text messages.
"So I spoke to him in Den Bosch at the World Series and said 'I sent you a couple of text messages to congratulate you but no response'.
"He said 'Ray, sorry, you need to send me a normal SMS, I don't do WhatsApp, I do normal SMS'. So ok.
"After Wieze I text him for the win and said congratulations on your win - no response again.
"So I said to the [journalist] 'I don't know, I tried to contact him a couple of times, wish him luck, wish him all the best and congratulate him'.
"Every time no response and he's telling everyone that I'm his biggest idol and Phil Taylor.
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Luke Littler has only played Raymond van Barneveld on one occasion so far
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"So I don't understand, so leave it. And 'leave it' was transferred differently in England. And I was thinking 'Oh wow, I never said that, I never said F off, never ever'."
Van Barneveld admitted he received backlash following the interview but has since spoken to Littler's manager.
He continued: "It went bad because there are fans who like Luke Littler of course and I'm thinking 'Wow, this is going nowhere, I never ever said that'.
"But in front of the camera Luke said 'Ray we will have a chat next time'. I spoke to his manager, I spoke to Gary Plummer of Target, we're fine.
Luke Littler is flying high at the top of the Premier League
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"Some of these journalists, they try to get the worst out of things, and I hate that. It's not nice.
"If you say something nice about anyone or a certain player, they don't publish it because it's too nice.
"But if you say something maybe not so nice, it's all there. And then you have to defend yourself, for what? For almost like nothing, because I never, ever said that word."
