Taylor on Van Gerwen's status as one of the best players of all time: "He's not even the greatest player to come out of Holland"

Phil Taylor has discussed Michael van Gerwen's status as one of the best players of all time and said that he isn't even the best player to come out of Holland.

Taylor said that while he doesn't want to put him down, he has a while to go yet until he is among those known as the best.

‘You know what? I would have loved to play against Michael now – loved it,’ Taylor told the Daily Star.

‘Don’t get me wrong: He is a fantastic talent, a flamboyant player, and who knows what he could go on to achieve?

‘But the world’s greatest player of all time? He’s not even the greatest player to come out of Holland – Barney has still won more world championships than him. And so has Eric, God rest his soul.

‘I’ll stand by my record and we’ll see how Michael’s stacks up against mine when he’s done. The lad has done brilliantly so far, he’s a cracking player and I don’t want to run him down, but he’s got a long way to go.

‘He was in tears after he won at Ally Pally one year, wasn’t he? Trust me, he would have done a lot of crying if I was 20 years younger!’