Has One Direction's Niall Horan just snubbed Simon Cowell and signed a massive solo deal with Universal?

One Direction's Niall Horan has apparently risked the wrath of Simon Cowell by snubbing Syco for a solo deal with Universal Music.

Daily Star Sunday reports that despite Simon allegedly trying to get the 22-year-old to sign a contract with his label, Niall has instead decided to go with Universal in a mega-bucks deal as they think his solo efforts have potential.

Digital Spy has reached out to representatives of Niall, while Syco declined to comment.

Earlier this year, Niall was said to have been putting the finishing touches on a record deal with Syco for brand new music, and he told us that he was tinkering away on a batch of songs but added there was "nothing in particular going on".

"Writing is always something I've enjoyed," he explained. "I've written with a few of the lads I've made relationships with down the years so I've been able to call up someone, 'Do you wanna write? Yeah, cool, let's go in the studio and write.'"

Back in May, Niall also admitted that he was glad to have a break from One Direction: "It's been brilliant. It actually doesn't feel like we've been off."

It had been rumoured that Harry Styles was going to leave Syco and do a deal with Universal's Capitol imprint, but his first solo album will be released via Columbia - who rep 1D in the US and are also under the same Sony umbrella as Syco.

He's also been busy launching his film career with Christopher Nolan's blockbuster Dunkirk, and it sounds like he's just a bit impressive.

Oscar winner Mark Rylance has compared him to Sean Penn, and Cillian Murphy has also been singing his praises.

Having quit the band before their hiatus, Zayn was the first out the traps with his solo album and signed to RCA - still under that Sony banner - to make #realmusic.

Louis Tomlinson has been writing away since the break, while Liam Payne got Simon Cowell all hot and bothered when he signed with Capitol rather than sticking with Syco.

He's apparently working with grime producer Krunchie - so expect something very different from 1D's hits from him.

Ian Sandwell

Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.