Defiant Nathan Aspinall says he is sick of talking about Mike De Decker and has nothing to prove in the Premier League.

The darts ace is preparing to start his campaign in Belfast on Thursday night having been handed one of the four picks by PDC chiefs. Aspinall’s inclusion, and that of Gerwyn Price, upset De Decker who claimed publicly the Englishman was partly selected for his walk-on song and entertainment purposes.

Dave Chisnall was also cited as critical due to social-media talk, but the Stockport star is taking no interest in scepticism as he gets set to face Luke Humphries on Night One. Aspinall said: “I said it recently, the only opinion that matters is the PDC’s. People are entitled to their opinion, people are entitled to favourites. The only opinions that matter are Matt Porter’s and the PDC’s and they put me in, so I am in.

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“I don’t need to prove anything. I am really good friends with Chizzy and it isn’t Dave who would have written that. I have no issues with Dave because he won’t have written that. That is a separate issue that I will deal with. And I am not going to talk about Mike De Decker. I am sick of talking about Mike De Decker.

“I will never forget the first time I met Barry Hearn and he said we are entertainers as much as sportspeople and that is what I bring to the table. I am an entertainer. I am also really good at darts, but I am also an entertainer as well and that is just who I am as a person.”

Aspinall enters the stage to Mr Brightside by The Killers and, speaking to Sky Sports, he added: “The crowd love it. It shows how powerful it is that players want to play me just to hear that song. It means a lot to darts fans around the world. I just really, really need to learn the words because after four years I still don’t know the lyrics.”

De Decker has taken a softer stance subsequently and told Het Nieuwsblad: “I misstated certain things. But I still stand by it. Maybe the PDC is right, and it was too early to put me in the Premier League. But I still think it’s a strange choice. So be it, they are the boss. If they think it’s still too early, I guess it’s true, right?

“I don’t think I said anything wrong. There are a lot of people who think the same way. They may not like it when I say it, but that’s the way I am. If I don’t like something, I say so. If it doesn’t click, then I clash. It’s just the truth.

“Aspinall? Fantastic darter, really. And so is Price. But you can’t expect me to understand why they’re there and I’m not. Aspinall is not in shape and is struggling with an injury and Price effectively said he didn’t want to participate. I just repeated what they said.”