One Direction star Zayn Malik has sparked further rumours of a feud with rival British boyband The Wanted after an exchange of cheeky Twitter posts with Max George.

The war of words seemingly started on the social networking site when Malik labelled George a "geek".

The teenage heartthrob - who is currently enjoying success with One Direction's second album 'Take Me Home' - commented on a photo George had uploaded of himself posing alongside popstar Psy saying: "The first step is acceptance #geekoftheweek (sic)."

George sarcastically replied: "Does that mean I’m ‘in’? (sic)."

Malik responded with: "I'm not sure why your still talking to me mate conversation ended when I called you a geek. p.s your display just how's how much of a wannabe you are :) (sic)."

George took the cheeky insult on the chin and jokingly replied: "That's not very nice. I was just starting to like you and your RnB hits (sic)."

The series of catty comments were further fuelled when George's bandmate Tom Parker weighed in on the debate, writing directly to George: "I think “1 stripes” got his knickers in a twist bro (sic)," referring to the blonde streak Malik has in his dark hair.

Malik was quick to put down Parker's sarcastic comment, teasing: "Mate if I had a face like yours my hair would be the last thing I'd worry about :) (sic)."

Despite the bitter exchanges, Max tried to calm the banter down by claiming: "No dramas peeps its all just flirting! Haha," before Malik challenged him again by adding: "Clearly some people are not very familiar with flirting :)."

Malik was keen to put an end to the argument when Parker posted a photo of him on the cover of a One Direction CD labelling him a "Bradford bad boi (sic)."

He posted: "Let's not even start discussing vocal ability boys ;) would love to chat gotta run though rehearsals."

George replied: "Enjoy rehearsals. Stay off the bud... It clearly makes u cranky (sic)."