Rooney to take a pay cut to join Chelsea?

This is interesting news. One of the major reasons to avoid a Wayne Rooney transfer, from Chelsea's perspective, is that the Manchester United striker is currently being paid £250,000 per week -- that's £13 million a season. According to the Times (most of the article is behind a paywall, alas), Rooney is apparently prepared to take a paycut to join the Blues, dropping 20 percent of his wages and signing for a mere £200,000 a week.

That might not seem like a huge cut, but over a five-year contract that would save the Blues well over £10 million, which makes a transfer significantly more palatable. I doubt Rooney's as close to a move as the Times are claiming (they're better sourced than I am, though!), but if he's really willing to take a significant pay cut to move to Stamford Bridge I can understand Chelsea pushing for a transfer. The latest word on that front is that they're still on their first bid although they're 'considering' another, which duh.