DISCUSSION | Players Championship 7 & 8 - Is Luke Littler in Minehead trouble already? Gary Anderson and Charlie Manby stand-outs in Leicester?

The big names weren't there for the most part at Players Championship 7 & 8 but two players who usually win anyway in Ryan Searle and Wessel Nijman strutted their stuff in Leicester scooping the two titles on offer.

This offers discussion points we analyse in regards to the top names skipping events as well as great double headers also for Gary Anderson and Charlie Manby.

Ryan Searle opened the double header with a dominant win over Alan Soutar 8-3 in the final winning the seventh event of the season. He averaged 95.65 and hit four maximums to claim the £15,000 top prize.

The 38-year-old registered a tournament average of 100.13 to open his account for the new season and he has now made it seven years on the spin that he has managed to at least seal a title on the ProTour.

Along the way, he saw off Jimmy van Schie, Raymond van Barneveld and then Charlie Manby 6-3 and backed it up with a superb win over Gary Anderson 7-3 who is his practice partner before Soutar was the prey in the final as he took advantage of early misses from the Scot who was left frustrated as Searle pulled away and sealed the title.

Wessel Nijman in Players Championship Eight continued his imperious year. The Dutchman has won three titles so far in 2026 including two ProTours and a European Tour showing that he isn't just a floor player and can do it on a stage.

Nijman won PC Two and then stormed to success in Gottingen but he also won Players Championship 8 on Tuesday afternoon defying Joe Cullen running out an 8-4 winner and as a result leaving Leicester top of the charts when it comes to the Players Championship Order of Merit.

It's quite easy to caveat that often the big names deciding to skip these tournaments isn't the end of the world as many of them fail to adapt to the ProTour anyway and that was case and point this week.

No Littler? No Humphries? No problem as two of the best players on the ProTour for a long time in Ryan Searle and Wessel Nijman proved their metal or Heavy Metal in Searle's case (pun very much intended) as they added yet another title. Another for Nijman for his rising collection, while Searle continued a pretty mental streak of winning titles in the past seven years.

But it also begs the question in my mind whether Littler will make Minehead at all. He seems to not have much hunger to play at all in these tournaments and while he could feasibly have a mad dash to reach Minehead, I don't see him playing an awful lot especially given his Premier League commitments.

While the European Tour, he was able to win in Belgium fairly comfortably and then won't have to play feasibly again until Dortmund, the ProTours were very much a 'if they're not near my house I won't bother' job albeit even when played in Wigan, he hasn't entered so a full on boycott might be in play here.

Whether the PDC decide to address it accordingly by altering the qualification criteria for Minehead remains to be seen, often mooted. A change in the qualification criteria could be the only way to get those big names in albeit the argument could be made that it sells out with or without Littler, Humphries but the same argument is made about the Premier League and it is still decided on commerciality and the format is decided with fans wanting to see the big names supposedly.

So it is a pivotal impasse and highlights a bit of a wider problem in which players like Littler and to an extent Humphries aren't playing the bread and butter and face real Minehead danger.

From the brilliance of Searle, Nijman as well as Gary Anderson and Charlie Manby to the wider issues, the ProTour always delivers and did so again here.

Two more Players Championship events have come and gone, with a lot of discourse coming out of it. By Ryan Searle standards, winning his first PDC title of the year at the end of March is long overdue. He once again showcased his quality on the oche as a serious competitor, not that surprises anyone. If he committed more to the sport, he would be more of a force to be reckoned with than he is now. His heavy scoring matched with a lethal combination on tops is a dangerous mix for anyone coming up against him, but the consistency is needed if he is going to show it week-in, week-out.

Aside from Searle, the Scottish darters should get a lot of attention. Alan Soutar has chucked himself into the race to Blackpool with a magnificent final run. It would still take a monumental effort for him to make it, and I believe he will need another deep run amongst some consistent form to get his name in the hat.

This Peter Wright showing is a bit of a red herring for me. We all know what he is capable of, and it would be more of a notable run if the two-time world champion won the event. It is baby footsteps, but he will need to not only do better, but it a lot more if he is going to live up to the bill and win more titles in the sport before he eventually calls it quits.

In Players Championship 8, Nijman is the talk of the town. He has become the first player to win multiple titles on the floor in 2026, reaching the final in half of the events he has competed in. The critics over his stage form has been valid at times, but that Euro Tour title joint with his immaculate performances on the Pro Tour has to make him a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the year. A deep run or possibly even major triumph cannot be far around the corner. We have a serious player on our hands.

That would be a discussion we could be having about Kevin Doets in the near future. Yet to win a PDC title, he came close to the final but two missed match darts opened the door for a Nijman comeback. He is one to keep an eye on in 2026. His stage form has been recognised for some time, especially at Ally Pally, and his form has overall risen to a very high standard. Compared to Nijman, major success feels a long way away but if that is the intended target for the Dutchman, then he is on the right pathway if he continues with what he is doing on the oche.

The headlines will not surround Keane Barry, but a quarterfinal in PC7 followed by pushing the number one seed Wessel Nijman in the last-16 in the next event needs some recognition. His tour card looks in a lot better condition than at the start of the week, adding £9,500 while moving up to 56th in the world. A different narrative could have been written after that collapse at the UK Open, but a brighter pathway is opening up for the Irishman.

Away from the action at Leicester, no Luke Littler once more will cause some raised eyebrows. It is obvious that ‘The Nuke’ will have the quality to just feature and perform in a few tournaments which will be enough for him to qualify for Minehead, but not everyone is immune to a surprise failure. Take Michael van Gerwen and Nathan Aspinall for example. There is no reason for alarm bells to be ringing for Littler yet with loads of tournaments left for him to appear in, but without featuring yet it could be an interesting discussion if he fails to qualify, making these first eight no-shows possibly pivotal.

The Pro Tour circuit resumed this week with the seventh and eighth Players Championship events of the season. It was during the latter tournament that Wessel Nijman once again underlined his current dominance on the Pro Tour. For the fifth time in the last eleven floor events, Nijman reached the final, and for the fourth time, the Dutchman went on to lift the title. As a result, he now sits comfortably at the top of both the Pro Tour Order of Merit and the Players Championship Order of Merit.

With several big names absent, there was a clear opportunity for Michael van Gerwen to pick up valuable prize money, but ‘Mighty Mike’ failed to capitalise. At Players Championship 7, Van Gerwen was eliminated in the last 16 by Jeffrey Sparidaans. A day later, Mervyn King proved to be a stumbling block in the last 32. While Van Gerwen has shown flashes of real quality at times, his performances remain too inconsistent to mount a serious title challenge.

It has been a disappointing season so far for darts icons Raymond van Barneveld and Peter Wright, but both players showed signs of resurgence at Players Championship 7. The man from The Hague recorded an impressive victory over Nijman on Monday, producing a 101 average against his fellow countryman. Ultimately, an outstanding Ryan Searle proved just too strong in the last 16, although the five-time world champion delivered a solid performance. Wright progressed to the quarter-finals, but ran out of steam at that stage. These results could serve as a springboard toward better times for both Wright and Van Barneveld.

One player who truly caught the eye was Charlie Manby. The 20-year-old Englishman only secured his PDC Tour Card this year, having already impressed at the recent World Championship with a run to the last 16. During this Pro Tour block, Manby reached the quarter-finals twice and collected £8,000 in prize money. It will be fascinating to see how much more he can achieve over the course of the season.

I would like to begin my assessment of the past two Pro Tour events with a single word: finally. Finally, it was once again one of those magical days that, for me personally as a darts fan, represent the very best the sport has to offer — a day full of Gary Anderson magic.

As has so often been the case over the past two or three years, “The Flying Scotsman” produced his very best form on the floor on Monday, delivering breathtaking averages of 105, 108, and 104 in successive matches. Although his run came to an end somewhat earlier than he would have liked in the semi-finals, this performance was, for me, one of the highlights of the entire Pro Tour block.

Anderson’s run was halted by his friend and practice partner Ryan Searle, who went on to claim the title shortly afterwards, securing PDC silverware for the sixth consecutive year. A remarkable achievement — especially for a player who, despite being a World Championship semi-finalist and at one point ranked world number seven, still somehow manages to fly under the radar.

Equally remarkable, in my view, have been the performances of Charlie Manby, who is currently playing the opening months of his still very young PDC career, yet already looks — and plays — like an established professional. On both days, the young Englishman reached the quarter-finals, each time losing only to the eventual winner or finalist. Already, Manby finds himself positioned alongside names such as Gary Anderson and Jonny Clayton in the Order of Merit, sitting firmly inside the Top 24.

At Players Championship 8, another young player shaped the narrative: Wessel Nijman. Hardly a bold take, but I currently see the Dutchman among the top three players of the 2026 darts season so far. By now, people have almost grown accustomed to Nijman being a regular presence in the latter stages of tournaments — but that should not diminish the scale of his remarkable development. It is important not to forget that he is only in the third year of his PDC Tour Card.

Nijman has already been written off far too often — and why? Because, at 25 years of age, he has not yet produced miracle runs on the very biggest stages in darts. Well, as a six-time PDC title winner and current world number 19, I imagine Nijman can afford to smile at that criticism. A fantastic player — and a fantastic prospect for the future of our sport.