'You don't see Leyton Orient playing Barcelona' - O'Sullivan insists he wants breakaway tour

The five-time world champion told Eurosport on Sunday he hoped he could set up the new league with the likes of John Higgins, who hinted at retirement after his defeat to Alan McManus.

O’Sullivan, who beat Ken Doherty 6-5 to reach the third round of the UK Championship on Sunday, has been critical of World Snooker in recent weeks due to the number of matches played on tour.

However, the 42-year-old thinks there is a solution, despite World Snooker supremo Barry Hearn being highly critical of the idea. O'Sullivan said: “It is very sad when you see someone like John Higgins talking about retirement.

“I will talk to him and find out what he is thinking. But if he wants to play and finds the tour a grind, I am waiting for four or five unhappy players because I can't play on my own.

“It is a big ask — they would have to give up a tour card and not play in the World Championship. And you have to have something to offer them to come over. But I have talked to possible backers."

O’Sullivan also suggested that Chinese players could join the ranks, including Yu Delu and Cao Yupeng, who have been banned for a combined 16 years for match-fixing.

"If John is at that stage that he doesn't want to play on this tour for whatever his own reasons are, then there is an opportunity because I think he would still like to play.

"The unhappier players are, the more they would like to play some snooker rather than retire. John doesn't want to retire I think, but he doesn't want to be on the slog that there is.

"You don't see Leyton Orient playing Barcelona, Messi would be demotivated doing that. So there is space for a 128-player tour, and then a creme de la creme. I wouldn't be doing the Ryanair service. There are a lot of other players who are kind of a little bit unsettled as well. The more unhappy the players are, the more the chance we can maybe do an alternative tour.

"You have the Chinese kids who have been banned recently, which was maybe a bit heavy, and a couple of top-ranked Chinese players are tired of the travelling."

World Snooker chief Barry Hearn responded on Twitter to O'Sullivan for his remark about getting banned players involved.

He tweeted: "Harshly! Are you serious? Cheats were exposed and punished. Please keep such stupid comments to yourself. You are getting ridiculous, and I expect better from a player of your standing. Enough."

Other players have also been critical of O'Sullivan's idea, with Judd Trump saying he's on a "different planet".