It seems that not everyone is convinced Raymond van Barneveld is set to retire from professional darts.

The five-time world champion vowed to quit competitive action at the end of the 2019 season. For a brief moment, it seemed like it would be even sooner. Barney made a shock retirement announcement after being dumped out of the Premier League Darts, only to make a dramatic U-turn. Premier League rival Michael Smith believes the retirement itself could be something van Barneveld changes his mind on. "I don’t think he’ll retire. He’s said it but I don’’t think it’ll happen," the new Premier League Darts basement player told the . "He’s being a businessman, he’s been clever in what he’s done. "I think he’ll be playing next season. He was clever because where he was in the rankings he was never going to get in the Premier League; so he’s got his money now. "He’ll get excited for it again, start enjoying his darts and decide not to retire."

Photo: PDC

Tough talk

Smith offered stark words of warning to the darting legend, who has slid down the PDC rankings in recent times. A World Championship farewell is in doubt, despite Barney powering to the Players Championship 8 final.

Jelle Klaasen and Jermaine Wattimena think van Barneveld will represent the Netherlands at the PDC World Cup of Darts but Smith, who looks set to play alongside Rob Cross for England, doesn't agree.

"The UK Open and then Rotterdam in the Premier League could be his last TV events because he’s not qualified for anything. He needs to pull his finger out," the Englishman asserted.

"They can’t put him in the World Cup. PDC Europe put a picture out of Max Hopp and Martin Schindler for Germany and then Van Gerwen and Barney for Holland, but the PDC made them remove it."