Brendan Rodgers has revealed he will rest Jamie Vardy for at least one game over Christmas as the Leicester boss urged English football chiefs to bring in a 'proper' winter break.

Rodgers was highly critical of the Premier League's first winter break, which will see matches staggered across the weekends of February 8-9 and 15-16.

Leicester are off on the first weekend but play at Wolves on February 14, which is a Friday.

Brendan Rodgers says he has no choice but to rest Jamie Vardy during the Christmas period

Rodgers says the Premier League have put money before the welfare of the division's players

There is also the matter of FA Cup fourth-round replays, with the ties scheduled for the final weekend in January. The Foxes, who travel to Manchester City on Saturday, have to endure a run of five games in 15 days.

When Rodgers was at Celtic, he enjoyed a clear three-week pause from the action. He said: 'It's "Let's pretend to have a break". It's disappointing to say the least.

'And we're playing on a Friday night, which is incredible really when you consider it's supposed to be a period when the players can recover.

The striker's goals have helped to fire Leicester into second place in the top flight

'It's certainly not a mid-season break. This year they've wanted to do it, and they've had a little play at it. Hopefully next season they can do a proper break.'

The intensity of the Christmas and new year fixtures, plus the short winter break, has left Rodgers feeling he has no option but to rotate his squad over the festive period.

Only Wolves have a shorter turnaround than the 45 hours and 30 minutes between Leicester's home clash with Liverpool on Boxing Day and their trip to West Ham on December 28.

Asked whether Vardy could play all four games, Rodgers said: 'No chance. The game is about money now. You can't say it's about the welfare of players.

'We're playing at 8pm on the 26th then on the 28th we are playing at 5.30pm. We'll have a busy January — which is brilliant, that's what you want. You want to succeed and play lots of games — but the players aren't robots. It's not a computer game.

'In terms of recovery, it is the second day after a game that is really tough for a player. We're kicking off at 5.30pm at West Ham. It's just nonsense, really.'

When the introduction of a winter break was announced last year, Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said: 'It's very positive and really a mark of much-improved working relationships between the Premier League and FA.'