IN the years before Luke Littler burst onto the scene, Corey Cadby was the young star tipped to be a future champion.
The Australian had the world at his feet after beating legend Phil Taylor at the age of 21 in 2016.
But troubles away from the oche ruined his career and he has been compared to footballer Mario Balotelli .
The former Manchester City and Liverpool striker was a maverick, capable of going from sheer brilliance to utter madness.
Throwing darts at a youth-team player, letting off a firework in his house the day before scoring against Manchester United and being labelled “unmanageable” by Jose Mourinho, Balotelli was never far away from the headlines.
Despite winning the Premier League with City and Serie A with Inter Milan, there will always be a feeling that Super Mario never met his potential due to off-field troubles.
And the same can be said about Cadby.
Nicknamed “The King”, he announced himself to fans by beating Taylor and then becoming world youth champion nine years ago.
A run to the UK Open final and a win over Rob Cross followed.
But run-ins with the law saw him disappear from the darts scene by 2020.
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There were visa problems over him travelling to Europe for major events as Cadby reportedly had a criminal record.
An arrest warrant was even put out after he missed a court appearance after an alleged driving offence.
The Darts Draait Door Podcast reflected on his career, with host Damian Vlottes seeing a similarity between him and Balotelli.
Vlottes said: “That one has everything but brains. I feel the same about Cadby.
Former pro Vincent van der Voort added: “Such a shame. He had everything to become a world-class player.
“He had character and wasn’t afraid of the big stage.
“I really thought he was a very good player.
“It’s a real shame he ended up sabotaging himself.
“He had multiple run-ins with the law and personal troubles in Australia that prevented him from entering England.”
Cadby once refused to play in a World Series of Darts tournament.
Opening up in an old interview last year, he said: “It is a disgrace, especially when I’ve been asked to go and represent the PDC.
“I did let a lot of people down at the end and I’m totally ashamed of that.
“Each day was so hard and that obviously led to alcohol. I was never one bit happy, I was actually depressed every day. I didn’t want to wake up and to be honest, there was thoughts of suicide on my mind.“
Cadby made a brief comeback in 2023 and won back his tour card at Q-school.
But he never participated in a PDC event and his card was eventually removed.
As for Balotelli, he is currently a free agent after recent spells at Turkish side Adana Demirspor and Italian club Genoa.
