EDDIE Howe believes a winter break could help revitalise players – but does not want the knock-on effect to be a longer season.

Howe was speaking after the idea had again surfaced in relation to the new television rights deal for England’s top flight.

The Premier League recently said they had “been in discussions with the FA and EFL for several months regarding the challenges of the increasingly congested English football calendar”.

It is believed a January break has been proposed, meaning the festive fixtures in the English calendar would not be affected.

A number of top-flight bosses have had their say on the debate, the latest being Everton boss Sam Allardyce, whose side have been training in Dubai during their two-week break in fixtures.

The Toffees boss told Big Rossi Radio: “If the Premier League shut down for 10 days or two weeks, you would see even greater benefits.

“You look at how many injuries clubs have after the Christmas period, it’s absolutely staggering. The welfare of the players is at stake here.”

In January, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said the hectic winter schedule would “kill” players.

Cherries played 14 times across three competitions during December and January.

With no fixture last week having been knocked out the FA Cup, Howe’s charges took the opportunity to head to Portugal for a three-day warm-weather training camp.

Asked whether he felt a possible winter break could help his squad, Howe told the Daily Echo: “It depends on the length of that break and when it was. For me, it then impacts on the summer.

“I would love to be able to give the players a break during the season and make sure they recharge their batteries so they are fully able to play to their best ability during the second half of the season. But you have to get them fit again after they have had the break so there is a lot to think about.”

Top-flight leagues in Germany, France, Italy and Spain take time out from their domestic schedules midway through the season.

Howe added: “Done at the right time and the length of the break being right, I think it could work.

“But what you don’t want to do in my opinion is lengthen the season too much, whereupon the summer break becomes shorter for players.

“If the season is lengthened, they have to come back for pre-season earlier and they finish the season later. Mentally, players don’t get a break and it can basically become that you are playing all year round with shorter breaks in between.

“If there’s a couple more midweek matches in there and the season length stayed the same, for us, not being in European competition wouldn’t be too bad but obviously the big clubs might have something to say about that.”