Simon Cowell believes he can "persuade" One Direction to reunite.

The music mogul put Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson into the group on 'The X Factor' 11 years ago, and though they've been on indefinite hiatus and working on solo projects since 2016 - a year after Zayn quit - he still believes they'll be back on stage together again one day and he's sure he could talk them into it.

Speaking on Australian TV show 'Today', he said: “I think it will happen. If they got together, whether it is making records again or touring, it would be the most amazing thing. I’d love it to happen.

“If I could get into a room with them all and just say to them, ‘You know what, whether it’s six months or something, I think you would have such a great time and enjoy each others’ company again’

“Maybe I could persuade them. But I think they should do it, definitely. The fans, of course, would love it.”

The 61-year-old star admitted he's unsure which members of the band are reluctant to commit to a reunion.

He said: “I don’t know to be honest.”

Niall recently admitted he's in regular contact with the rest of the band but they don't discuss the possibility of getting back together, but he knows that if they did, they would all have to be in agreement.

He said: “I don’t know … no-one really talks about it. Still talk to them all the time. There’s a couple of little babies from them lads. Everyone’s having their own success on their own. I’m enjoying what I’m doing.

“Of course, if everyone wanted to do it, I’d be down for it … you kind of need to all get in the same room and have the chat, but I don’t know when that would be."

On what conditions he would have, he added: “Having the same opinion is going to be always hard. Unless everyone was completely in, I wouldn’t want to do it. I wouldn’t want to half-force someone into doing it.”