There have been conflicting rumours over the past 24 hours about the likely future of the UK’s biggest ever boyband, One Direction.

US Weekly magazine has been quoting sources close to the outfit, stating that One Direction's current hiatus is really a permanent split. That would mean no more records and no more tours ever in the future. Which, on the face of it, seems like a very unlikely scenario...

It was August 2015 when the British boyband – still at the height of their fame – announced that they would be taking a break for twelve months from March 2016. The intended length of that break has since been extended to eighteen months. However, US Weekly insists that the group has in fact reached the end of the line.

The factual basis for the story is that, following the departure of Zayne Malik, the four remaining members of the band – Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson – chose not to renew their recording contract after their tour finished in October. But what does that really mean? Perhaps just that they feel that a better deal can be done if and when they do return. But not as far as US Weekly is concerned.

"The 1D thing just ran its course," a source 'close to the band' is quoted as saying. "They'll remain friends, but they are exhausted and want solo careers."

This scenario has already been denied by the band. But the boys themselves have made no attempt to hide the fact that they really do need a break from the One Direction machine.

"Basically, we are all a mess,” Liam Payne – who was photographed over the past 24 hours with a newly ’not quite shaven' head – said recently. "None of us ever gets enough sleep. It's intense, but you've got to be grateful for that. You've got to be grateful there are people screaming for you, standing outside your hotel room."

Payne left no room for confusion regarding One Direction’s plan to return as a unit, after taking some time out.

"I'm really conscious that all this crazy stuff has happened to us and, you know, I haven’t even taken it in,” he said. "We can’t ever answer questions properly because stuff hasn't sunk in. I want to just sit still and let it sink in. We just want a little break."

While Payne's haircut has not gone down well with a host of One Direction fans – and certainly offers a more mature look to the world – suggestions that it might be part of an orchestrated plan to let fans know that the world of Directioners is finally and utterly a thing of the past seems far fetched.

"We're not going anywhere," Payne has stated. That, of course, remains to be seen.

In other One Direction news, it has been revealed that Liam Tomlinson personally donated £3million to the Believe In Magic charity. The charity has been supported by all of the members of the band.