"What happens next Thursday I don’t really give a f***": Michael van Gerwen makes Premier League v ranking tournament priorities unequivocally clear

Michael van Gerwen has admitted that he doesn't care about the Premier League once again after previously saying it wasn't at the top of his priorities as he faces a huge ranking drop later in the year.

Van Gerwen is likely to fall out of the top 20 after the World Darts Championship and is trying to stem that tide amid his struggles in winning games as often as he used to anyway and a new rising crop of talent.

But while the big names have often taken time off to play in exhibitions and snub ranking action, Van Gerwen has often played and in doing so MVG has pinned his colours to the mast that he wants that ranking success over the weekly darting roadshow.

Albeit it didn't go to plan in Graz as he was slumped out by Rob Cross on the Sunday. He had seen off Krzysztof Ratajski before losing out to Rob Cross. “Krzysztof is in really good form and playing good darts and then you have to do something special.

“That is exactly what I did today. I am playing some good darts lately. In the last two weeks I have picked up a good feeling and good momentum. But you have to show it in the games. I did that today and everyone knows what I am capable of. My main focus is this tournament, simple as that. What happens next Thursday I don’t really give a f***.

MVG went on to say that the rankings are his most important thing as he looks ahead to likely having to rely on them in the first instance and he said that Sunday at the time was his most important thing albeit he did go on to lose to Cross.

This is also coming from a player who isn't out of Premier League contention anyway. He currently sits fifth in the Premier League and is two points behind Luke Humphries in the race to the final play-off place with just two nights of the regular season still to go and so all hope isn't lost.

But he has reiterated throughout that he isn't bothered about the Premier League and that ranking tournaments are his priority “For me, what is important is tomorrow. Everyone knows that," he said before losing to Cross.

“I didn’t have a good year last year, everyone knows that. So, on the ProTour ranking and European Tour ranking I have to smash them. For me, tomorrow is the most important day of the year. What we are going to have afterwards, let’s see. I don’t care.”