Simon Cowell has tipped One Direction to reunite within five years.
The music mogul reckons the group – originally made up of Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik – could get back for a tour.
Discussing a possible 1D reunion during an interview with Heart Breakfast, Simon told hosts Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden: “My gut feeling is yes.
“I mean, they’re all doing great solo wise, at the moment, but they had a lot of hits. So, they could do tour, after tour, after tour. You know you could sell out a One Direction gig, or a stadium tour, in about 20 seconds.”
Putting a possible time frame on the comeback, Simon added: “I would say within five years.”
Simon’s comments follow Liam speaking about his time in the group on The Jonathan Ross Show.
Liam – who will release debut album LP1 in December – said of One Direction: “It’s been a while… We have nearly been out of the band as long as we were in it which is a weird thing to think about because at one point it was [my] whole life and now I’m out doing my own thing.
“I definitely miss it, there’s different pressures these days.
“When it all relies on you, you kind of have to come up with everything and when you’re on stage, I haven’t got someone to turn around to.”
Questioned on the topic of a potential reunion, Liam replied: “Everybody outwardly in the press has said something but we haven’t really spoke as a collective together.
“All I can say is, through album cycles and single cycles, I see everybody putting songs out at the moment, I don’t think for at least the next two years it’s going to happen.”
However Liam suggested that Zayn would never come back.
He explained: “I don’t think that’ll ever happen. When he left, it wasn’t on great terms so I don’t feel like it’s a thing.
“If he didn’t want to be here, he shouldn’t be here. Which is fine.
“Like I say good for him, he’s gone off and is doing his own thing and he’s doing really well so I don’t want to mess with his stuff… We did a whole stadium tour without him so I feel like it’s fine.”
