'Ronnie O'Sullivan told me not to turn professional - it was humiliating'

Daniel Wells is set to make his debut tomorrow, having qualified for the first time last week. The 36-year-old beat Gary Wilson 10-9 to reach the televised stage of the competition.

The success comes 17 years after Wells turned professional, and the achievement will certainly come as a relief given that he has had his fair share of doubters in years gone by - including .

Wells has struggled since breaking onto the snooker scene, and some brutal remarks from O'Sullivan certainly cut deep in 2023. Speaking at the Welsh Open, The Rocket called for Wells to revert to being a 'part-time player' as he 'isn't good enough'.

He told Eurosport: "If I was advising him, I'd tell him to stay as a part-time player, you're having fun and enjoying it. That's the way he's going to play his best snooker. He has tried that and he ain't at that level, never will be.

"At best, he will maybe make a few semi-finals now and again, but it is hard to invest everything into that when he can still do that as a part-time player - he can still get to the semi-finals of this, but he is never going to be a tournament winner, he is just not good enough."

Wells was far from pleased with the comments though, telling the that O'Sullivan needs to recognise that his words hold weight. He responded: "It was quite negative and quite humiliating because I've got family and friends watching who are trying to believe in me. What he says has a lot of power because he is the best player of all time, so when he makes a point people take it as gospel. It's damaging.

"When he's making these kinds of points, some people might not be in a fit state to deal with them. (rogue quote mark) "I think he should engage his brain a bit more and think about other people.

"These people may be going through difficult periods, in snooker and in life. Then they'll have people coming up to them saying, 'did you hear what Ronnie said about you, that you're not good enough?' Having to deal with that... I wish he'd think about that a bit more."

Wells will make his Crucible debut on Tuesday when he faces world No. 15 Shaun Murphy.