Wayne Rooney Transfer News: Jose Mourinho Remains Coy on Man United Forward

Jose Mourinho was asked by reporters once again of his plans surrounding a possible transfer bid for Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, but the Chelsea boss was largely noncommittal over the story.

Mourinho was fresh off his first match back in charge of Chelsea, a 2-0 victory over Hull City which came courtesy of goals from Oscar and Frank Lampard, despite the latter missing a penalty at 0-0 after just five minutes.

Fernando Torres started the match up front and Romelu Lukaku came off the bench late on to replace him, but Chelsea have been linked with a move for a new striker for much of the summer, and Eurosport.Yahoo.com report that the Portuguese boss is still considering Rooney.

Chelsea have already had two bids rejected for Rooney by his club Manchester United, but it seems as though the Blues are ready to bide their time before signing a new No. 9.

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When asked about Rooney, Mourinho says "We will try until the last day to add a new player to the squad, a striker." 

— Oliver Kay (@OliverKayTimes) August 18, 2013"

The transfer window will close on September 2, and Chelsea will have every hope and expectation of adding to their three senior signings so far—Mark Schwarzer, Marco van Ginkel and Andre Schurrle—but Mourinho stopped short of confirming that Rooney would be the incoming player.

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Mourinho on Rooney: "We speak to clubs, not players. We'll do it in an ethical way. We don't influence players to behave in a certain way."

— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) August 18, 2013"

Demba Ba also remains a Chelsea striker for now, but he may find himself entirely relegated to a bit-part role if a third striker comes in ahead of him.

For Rooney's part, he appeared as a second-half substitute for Manchester United on Saturday as they beat Swansea City 4-1, with the England international involved in the last two goals of the game. Rooney scored 12 league goals last season, and Chelsea are reported to be ready to offer him £300,000 per week if they can land him in a £40 million transfer, according to ESPN.

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