Simon Cowell: 'One Direction Will Go Solo'

Simon Cowellhas declared that he thinksOne Direction will eventually split up - and all go solo.

Speaking toBillboard magazine, SiCo suggested that he didn't believe the boy band's recent claim that they'll stick together until they're too old to go on stage.

"Eventually they probably will split up and maybe want to have their own careers," he conceded.

"The choice is theirs, we've got the opportunity to do both. But from what I hear, they're really enjoying what they're doing.

"We don't feel there's anything wrong. They're getting more time off, I hope they stay a band for a long time."

And the ever-modest Cowell has also claimed that it was HIS idea to put the boys together on The X Factor.

"It was my idea [to put you guys together]," Cowell said as he appeared on their One Direction Day live stream.

"It was really weird… I just said, 'Why don't we put these guys into a group?' It took 10 minutes!"

He then joked: "I was disappointed because I thought all of you were going to go through as solo artists."