Joey Barton has lavished praise on Luke Littler after the teenager won the Bahrain Masters on Friday night.
The 16-year-old recently soared to prominence at the World Darts Championship, having made the final of that competition before losing to Luke Humphries.
Littler has, however, now bounced back from that defeat in style.
The youngster won the Bahrain Masters on Friday evening, getting the better of Michael van Gerwen to reign supreme.
Luke Littler has been praised by Joey Barton after winning the Bahrain Masters on Friday night
GETTY
And Barton took to X to praise Littler, especially after the teenager pulled off a terrific nine-darter.
"16 years old. Luke Littler. What a player. A phenomenon," he said.
Barton also added, seemingly in reference to the way Littler looks older than his age: "Some paper round the kids had."
Fans took to the social media website to agree with Barton's sentiments, with one user saying: "I’ve gone early but this guy MUST win Sports Personality of the Year!"
A second said: Such a good player. Beating one of the greats already."
A third stated: "There's no ceiling for him, such a natural talent."
A fourth weighed in by saying: "Fine specimen of a young man."
And a fifth said: "He is a rare talent indeed. Looking forward to seeing how he gets on in the Premier League."
While fans have agreed with Barton on Littler, the former footballer continues to spark controversy.
He has never been afraid to mince his words and has targeted Eni Aluko online, with the pundit saying she's fled the country as a result.
Nedum Onuoha, who played with Barton at Manchester City, says his old team-mate was a 'bully'.
And he's opened up on when Barton had a training ground fight with Ousmane Dabo in 2007, with the latter suffering a detached retina.
Barton was also given a four-month suspended jail sentence, on top of a six-match ban from football by the FA>
Onuoha, recalling that incident, said: "Ousmane Dabo, one of the nicest guys I've ever played with, he was getting kicked by Joey every day in training.
"When Joey decides that someone is fighting for his position, he'll do all sorts. Kicking, talking, everything.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
Luke Littler was jubilant after beating Michael van Gerwen to win the Bahrain Masters
GETTY
"So one day, Ousmane says 'Nah that's enough for me now'. So Ousmane kicked him back.
"That was the same day that Joey knocked him out, held his head and continued to hit him'."
Discussing another training ground incident, he added: "There was a guy called Leyton Slack and he went up to head the ball.
"Joey's studded him in the head, six feet in the air.
"He's a bully. At the time he had leverage, because he was one of the better players for City but it was dark times for City."
Joey Barton has been branded a 'bully' by a former team-mate at Manchester City
GETTY
Barton himself said two years ago that Dabo actually started their fight.
"Dabo slapped me at the training ground so he got put a kip," he said.
"That was his own fault and if I see him any time and he wants to – you see all these Jake Pauls and that on Youtube, if Ousmane wants to give me a shout and he wants to do it for charity and get his own back…"
