Robbie Williams to Join Westlife?

Westlife apparently have set their eyes on a winner and probably feel that five is always better than four. The fact is, it has been rumored that the hugely successful boy band have invited the equally successful ex-Take That member Robbie Williams to join them. The Irish four-piece would apparently love to welcome the controversial but charming Robbie in their group. They would regard his coming as a trade-off of some sort, seeing that their own ex-member Brian McFadden has joined Robbie's former band Take That.

Robbie Williams left Take That in 1995, when the band was at the height of their fame. Unlike many other singers for whom leaving their band in search of a successful solo career was a false step that ended in disaster (read that descent into anonymity), this was not the case for Robbie, who shot to international fame and managed to become one of the most significant singers of the end of the previous decade. Brian McFadden quit Westlife in 2004.

Nicky Byrne stated that: "Take That should have Brian back, and we'll have Robbie. If I was Take That I wouldn't want Robbie back. I think they're doing very well without him and Robbie's doing very well on his own". Now, I'm not sure if by saying that Nicky is in fact praising Westlife, paying a compliment to Robbie or mocking the rival Take That (I think it might be a bit of each, actually), but if you think about it, he has a point. Sort of. However, Robbie's ego might not be able to take sharing the spotlight with anyone else and that's not a "maybe".

Nicky's band mate Kian Egan stated that while he can see why fans would like to see both bands reunited with their "departed" fifth members, he admits that such a move would involve a huge amount of "politics". He told British radio station Heart FM: "For a Take That fan I think it would be great to see them back together, I'd pay to see that, and perhaps for Westlife fans they would like to see the whole magic of a full five back on stage again so I can see that point of view. I would love to go and see Take That with Robbie in there but when you're actually in the band it's different, there are different politics".

I for once think that would be a good idea - and it would probably attract a huge amount of media attention. But really, I think that the whole "politics" thing is really just band pride and the fear that Robbie might prove to be his arrogant, annoying self and either overshadow or piss the hell out of everyone else in the band. And yes, that may really be a problem.