Noel Gallagher believes One Direction only have ''five years left''.

The 47-year-old star has confessed he can't understand why Zayn Malik chose to quit the band to live a ''normal life'' when he thinks he'd have been able to do that soon enough anyway.

He said: ''I can't understand why he would do it - because they've only got, at most, five years left.''

Noel added he thinks Zayn should have stuck it out with his bandmates - Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson - if only to line his pockets for a few more years.

Speaking to James Corden on 'The Late, Late Show', the former Oasis rocker added: ''He should just stand at the back, smoke weed, get laid, just pick the cheque up and go home. But he should get himself a good accountant.''

The 'Wonderwall' hitmaker's comments come after he said Zayn was ''strange'' for quitting the band and predicted he won't be the ''normal'' guy he wants to be in a few years' time.

He said previously: ''It's a strange thing for that lad to have done at that age. The greatest quote was - I laughed out loud when I read it, 'I just want to be a normal 22-year-old'. Pfft. Who wants to be a normal 22-year-old?! Hang on a minute. You can be f**king anything that moves and getting paid half a million dollars a week, you f**king idiot. You want to be a normal 22-year-old? Have you met any normal 22-year-olds? They're s**t for brains. What are you talking about, you idiot? God. All those young Japanese girls s***ing me c**k. So shallow and meaningless. I'll say this to you, Zayn, You might have wanted to be a normal 22 year old, but you won't want to be a normal 25 year old!''

Noel's younger brother and former Oasis bandmate Liam Gallagher later jumped to the defence of Zayn and his former bandmates.

He wrote on Twitter: ''Hey NG leave those 1d kids alone LG x ... Just coz you have a SAXAPHONE on your new record and you think your all Pink Floyd LG x ... Everybody knows your just another Pr**k in the wall LG x (sic).''