Wayne Rooney: Pressure on players to take pay cut a 'disgrace'

Many athletes are taking pay cuts due to the coronavirus outbreak, but Derby County's Wayne Rooney thinks there's too much pressure on players to take less during this difficult time.

Rooney mainly attacked Britain's health secretary Matt Hancock in a piece written by the soccer superstar for The Times titled "Of course I'd give up my pay -- but Matt Hancock and the Premier League are so out of order."

"How the past few days have played out is a disgrace," Rooney wrote for The Times. "First the health secretary, Matt Hancock, in his daily update on coronavirus, said that Premier League players should take a pay cut. He was supposed to be giving the nation the latest on the biggest crisis we've faced in our lifetimes. Why was the pay of footballers even in his head? Was he desperate to divert attention from his government's handling of this pandemic?"

Rooney continued to say that the Premier League's public announcement has put players in a "no-win situation." The Professional Footballers Association also claimed the pay cut would have the opposite effect on the government because of the tax contributions that would be lost.

The Premier League has been shut down since March 13.