Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick reckons the League Cup could be sacrificed to ease the problem of fixture congestion in English football.
This season is already facing a huge backlog of games due to the impact of Covid, which has seen a host of matches postponed during the festive campaign, because of a rise of cases among players.
The physical and mental welfare of players has come under the spotlight once again, as the calendar threatens to descend into chaos because of the postponed fixtures and subsequent backlog.
United have seen their last two games, against Brentford and Brighton, called off due to a Covid outbreak at the club, which left Rangnick with just nine available outfield players.
Rangnick feels there are too many competitions in England and that getting rid of the League Cup - as other countries have done with secondary cup competitions - could be one way to ease the strain in an already packed schedule.
Rangnick said: "You know better than I do what a big tradition it is to play on Boxing Day and the 27th and I think we should stick to this and respect this tradition.
"I'm looking forward to that, for the first time in my coaching career, but there could be other issues that have been discussed in the past.
"England is the only top league (in Europe) that plays two cup competitions. In France they abolished the second one, so we are the only country that plays two cup competitions.
"This is something we could speak about and discuss. The League Cup is still kept for the third and fourth division teams to improve the financial situations of those clubs.
"But a tight calendar, with too many games, this is something to speak about and discuss."
Rangnick has also appealed to those United stars who have not already been vaccinated to get double jabbed and improve their chances of avoiding getting Covid in the future.
Interim boss Rangnick, who has a full squad to pick from for Monday's trip to Newcastle, said: "The Premier League will try everything to keep the league safe and the situation around the players safe.
"We have to encourage players to behave in a disciplined way with regards to contacts, we have to make sure the record of vaccination players is high at our club.
"Even if you are vaccinated, you can catch it, but you are protected from severe symptoms and most of our players who tested positive had very, very weak symptoms and didn't suffer."
