Bradford’s X-Factor hopeful Zayn Malik says that he isn’t going to let romance get in the way of his pop career.

Zayn, 17, of East Bowling, can be seen on the hit ITV show tomorrow night as part of the band One Direction, which has so far attracted a legion of admiring female fans.

There are a host of Facebook pages and Twitter messages from adoring girls besotted with Zayn’s smouldering good looks… and he’s been romantically linked with at least two of his fellow contestants.

But Zayn told the Telegraph & Argus that he’s working too hard along with his boy-band pals to think about girls.

There have been national newspaper reports saying Zayn is stepping out with solo rival Cher Lloyd, being mentored by Girls Aloud’s Cheryl Cole.

And this week it was claimed that Zayn flouted an 11pm curfew ordered by the band’s own mentor, Simon Cowell, to have a sneaky date with Geneva Lane, a singer with the girl-group Belle Amie, who are already out of the competition.

But speaking to his local paper, Zayn stressed that there is no romance with any of his fellow contestants past or present… which will delight his growing army of fans.

Zayn, speaking from rehearsals ahead of the show, told us: “I’m not having a romance with anybody! I don’t have time for girls – we’re working too hard!”

A glance of messages sent to him on social networking site Twitter reveals: “hey gorgeous! How are you?xx” and “Ur HOT”.

One Direction are hotly tipped to get to the final of X-Factor, and Zayn told the T&A that he and his bandmates have already pledged to make a go of the pop business, wherever they finish in the competition.

The only fly in the ointment of their success in the contest is the continued presence of comedy Brazilian Wagner.

Thanks to an internet campaign to keep him in the running, several contenders have already fallen by the wayside in the weekly Sunday night public vote.

Zayn, who went to Lower Fields Primary School and currently studies at Tong High, where staff and pupils sent him messages of support in today’s T&A, said: “We’re not complacent.”

See One Direction perform tomorrow night on ITV1 at 7.45pm.