has issued a brutal verdict on the darts players left out of the reckoning for this year's Premier League Darts, claiming they may not be ready to compete even after winning a major.

As the world No. 1, Humphries qualified by default as which stretches from February to May.

To fill the remaining slots, four other darts players are granted wildcard entries by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), with Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price, Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall the names picked.

and European Open champion Dave Chisnall out in the cold despite their significant achievements in 2024, with De Decker blasting his omission as 'scandalous'.

But 'Cool Hand' pulled no punches with his argument that some of the names omitted might have struggled if they were selected.

"The PDC have got a good way of maybe allowing people a bit more extra time because you win a major, maybe you think 'right, this is my time now, I'm ready for the Premier League' and maybe you're not.

"Maybe I wasn't ready that year they expelled me for it, or didn't put me in it.

"They [the PDC] made the right decision because if they could've put me in that year, I might've had a really bad year and then never gone on to achieve the things I did."

Humphries was fifth in the rankings two years ago and was therefore left out of the tournament.

But less than 12 months later, he went on to win the World Championship after beating Luke Littler, which set him on the path to becoming the world No 1.

And the 29-year-old believes his journey will provide some hope to the likes of De Decker and Chisnall.

"Everything happens for a reason. I think there's a few players who are disappointed they didn't get in, but maybe take a bit of inspiration from what I did, prove them wrong," he added.

"If you win a major and then go and do it again, then you're ready because you're doing consistently.

"Sometimes when you win one major, it's not enough to get yourself in this cauldron, which is quite tough.

"But there's a few players that, if they have a good season, they'll have a great chance of being in it next year."