"Maybe it's worth trying someone else": Luke Humphries advocates potential Premier League debut for Mike de Decker

Luke Humphries was defeated in the World Grand Prix final and as ever was gracious in defeat as he lost to Mike de Decker on Sunday night 6-4 in Leicester.

Humphries spoke to the media prior to De Decker and said that while he was disappointed, it was disappointment that would soon go in the grand scheme of things and that in his view De Decker deserved it.

"It's not bitter, I'm just disappointed about the way I played to be fair," said Humphries.

"It's just all around the wires, it was just a tight performance by myself and it wasn't me up there. But you can't take credit away from Mike, honestly every time it was like the double was going in. He had a little spell at the back end of the game where he missed 6 and 9 in two legs but apart from that, he was in every time.

"He showed a lot of bottle tonight, that makes a good player. Your first major final there can be nerves and I felt it in mine but it looked like he didn't feel it. I think the better player won the game and I deserved to be the runner-up."

"It hurts for 10-15 minutes but once it goes over, it's another achievement. It's nine majors in 12 months. You can't win everything. A lot of people wrote Mike off tonight and I'm proud that I'm one of those players, I never write anyone off."

"There's missed opportunities for myself but he come back really well. His scoring was unbelievable. I thought it was a really good game."

But while De Decker himself said afterwards that he didn't think he was ready for the Premier League, Humphries says he thinks it's between him and Van den Bergh and that perhaps Dimi has had his chance.

"He's put himself in the mix for a lot of things now. Premier League. I don't think they will discount him out of that, it's a battle between him and Dimitri maybe for the Belgian to get in now because they've both won a major. Maybe it might be time to give Mike a chance."

"You can't just win one major tournament and expect to be in. He has to show that willing of playing brilliant. You've just got to show that level and that it stays there. It's nice to give someone a chance, I think he'd relish a challenge. Maybe it's worth trying someone else."