'When John came along at 17 you knew he'd be world champion, you could just tell.' When he came along you thought it's in his hands to win tournaments. 'Jackson ended up playing the best game of his life and still couldn't beat him! It's not a criticism of Jackson at all - but we're still waiting to see the next Judd Trump. Turn it round and have a 21-year-old John Higgins playing a 47-year-old Jackson Page and it's a no contest!

When a 21-year-old Jackson Page plays a 47-year-old John Higgins he should be a massive favourite, but he’s not. I know he’s won the UK and the German but look at Stephen Hendry’s CV by then, he was on three or four world titles. “Zhao Xintong is the only one but he’s still unproven. Is Jackson Page going to do it, or Aaron Hill? There’s Luca Brecel, but they hit that point and never press on. 'The last really exceptional player to come through was Judd Trump. O'Sullivan told Eurosport: 'I’m really surprised we haven’t got much better young players. The Rocket is still snooker's youngest ranking event winner having won the 1993 UK Championship at the age of just 17 while Higgins clinched his first at 19 back in the 1994-95 season. It speaks volumes that 33-year-old Judd Trump is still often referred to as one of the more 'youthful' challengers to the likes of O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Neil Robertson - as well as fellow golden oldie Mark Williams who failed to qualify for this year's staging in Milton Keynes - but thankfully their continued levels of brilliance maintains snooker's relevance and popularity in an era where more sports than ever are competing for exposure. Only five hopefuls are under the age of 30 - Hossein Vafaei (28), Luca Brecel (27), Zhao Xintong (25), Fan Zhengyi (21) and female star Mink Nutcharut (22) - and none of those are from the UK.

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