Luke Littler 'splits from 21-year-old girlfriend' Eloise Milburn as darts ace 'very upset'

Luke Littler and Eloise Milburn have reportedly called time on their relationship after 10 months of dating, during which the 17-year-old has become a household name thanks to his darts success over the past year.

The Sun claim that the World Championship runner-up and Premier League Darts champion has been left "very upset" due to the break-up but will continue to be friends with his 21-year-old former partner.

Littler's busy schedule and constant travelling have been cited as reasons why they have split, though neither Littler nor Milburn have confirmed the news through their social media channels.

They have not been able to spend as much time together as they would have liked, with Littler focused on his sporting career, though it is thought that there is no bad blood between himself and Milburn.

Littler had met beautician Milburn on the development tour, herself a budding darts player too, and quickly hit it off as she was spotted cheering her boyfriend on at the World Championship at Alexandra Palace during his breakout competition.

She had joined him and his family on a trip to the United States last month for the US Darts Masters, which followed a trip to Disneyland, and the pair had previously livestreamed playing FIFA together on Twitch.

Though despite reaching such lofty heights through darts, Littler has revealed that with fame, abuse targeted at his then-girlfriend also followed.

“That’s what I knew from the very start," Littler told the Guardian when opening up on abusive messages Milburn received when their relationship was made public. "We knew people would find out but it started off very bad.

"The people that matter most are supportive of us. As the weeks go on (the abuse of Milburn on social media) has been almost forgotten. We’ve been talking for a few months now. I’ve brought her along to the worlds, got to the final and whatever people say, they can say it.

"It’s not going to affect me or my mental strength. I’ve got guys doing my Instagram now and they delete it before I see it."

When the public were made aware of their relationship in December, a rumour emerged that they had met online while playing FIFA, but Littler shut down that theory.

"No, that was a weird story they made up," he confirmed. "We met on the development tour in Leicester in August but became friends at the last [tournament] in Milton Keynes."

Littler's next tournament is the Players Championship in Milton Keynes on July 31, before travelling to Wollongong for the Australian Darts Masters next month.