Simon Cowell battling to sign Ella Henderson

Simon Cowell faces a battle to sign Ella Henderson.

The music mogul is keen to offer the departed 'X Factor' contestant a contract with his Syco label, but he has competition from fellow Sony imprints Columbia, Epic and RCA, who are all bidding for her talents.

A source told The Sun newspaper: ''Ella is the most exciting thing to have come out of this year's 'X Factor'.

''Simon can't believe she got the boot but he's not losing any sleep over it as he can see the pound signs in his eyes.

''He's confident Syco will get her but if she goes elsewhere within Sony he's still quids in.''

Ella's father Sean, who acts as her manager, is negotiating her record contract, but it will not be announced until after the current 'X Factor' series ends next month.

On Sunday (18.11.12), Simon branded Ella's axing from the competition ''unbelievable''.

He tweeted: ''Ella! Gone??? Unbelievable.''

Meanwhile, Gary Barlow has vowed not to hold back in his critique of controversial contestant Rylan Clark this weekend.

He said: ''I'm serious. What are we going to do about Rylan?

''I might have to be honest on Saturday night and go: 'Rylan, I thought that was absolute s***e'.''

After Gary asked the crowd at his London gig on Tuesday (20.11.12) what they thought of Rylan, they booed and shouted ''get him out''.

The Take That star replied: ''I'm glad you agree!''