Liam Payne says Simon Cowell is "desperate" for Cheryl Tweedy to

Liam Payne and Cheryl Tweedy

Liam Payne and Cheryl Tweedy

return as a judge on 'The X Factor' next year.

The former Girls Aloud member gave birth to the couple's son Bear in

March and her 24-year-old boyfriend has insisted that the music mogul

is prepared to replace Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Osbourne or Louis

Walsh on the panel with Cheryl in 2018 when she's ready to return to

work.

Speaking ahead of Cheryl's appearance alongside Simon at the Judges'

Houses, Liam said: "Cheryl and Simon spoke about her going back next

year. Obviously Simon is desperate to get her back."

He added: "Cheryl and Simon have such a lovely relationship.

"Obviously she's been off for quite a long time with Bear but it was

great for her to get back out and do the Judges' Houses."

The One Direction star launched his solo career shortly after Bear was

born and says the couple are fully supportive of each other's career

choices, however he admitted he is keen to see Cheryl "get back to

work".

He said: "We're all edging for her to get back to work, it's just

finding the right time and the right way to do things.

"This is the first time she's been away from the industry for a long

period of time in her whole career and sometimes that's a beautiful

thing to have.

"She's got the opportunity to choose exactly what she wants to do and

I think it's great.

"When I look back on it, it was crazy that I went back to work really early on."

Meanwhile, he praised his girlfriend's mothering nature and said she

couldn't be a better mother to their tot.

He said: "She's the most fantastic mum, which was no shock to me. I

knew she was going to be incredible."