The fact that we have now arrived at the situation where United and Rooney have made up to the extent that he has committed the rest of his career to the club is remarkable.
It is also perhaps a sign of United's current position of weakness and the reality that Rooney genuinely had few better options elsewhere.
To suggest that United and Rooney are stuck with each other would be over-playing the point but there is certainly a sense that the new contract has been the result of a climbdown by both sides.
Rooney was ready to leave last summer, prepared to end his nine-year spell at United to play for Chelsea.
The 28-year-old was seeking a new challenge, wanted to be loved and treated as the central figure again following his final season under Ferguson.
And while United would have been prepared to let him go had Ferguson remained in charge, the danger of losing the club's poster boy in the first weeks of David Moyes' reign as manager was simply too damaging to contemplate.
Still, United were not prepared to throw a new contract under Rooney's nose last summer.
Ed Woodward, David Gill's successor as United's deal-maker, admitted that the club were ready to wait until the summer of 2014 before taking a view on Rooney and that there was even the possibility of allowing him to run his contract down to become a free agent in 2015.
United were happy to talk tough at the same time as telling Chelsea where to go, but that was then and this is now.
From being the champions last summer and the dominant force in English football, this season has seen a dramatic change.
United have had a shocker. They currently sit in seventh position in the Premier League, are out of both domestic cups and relying on an unlikely triumph in the Champions League final in May to play in the competition again next season.
From holding all the aces on Rooney in July, they have now seen the tables turned, with the player's return to form this season restoring his negotiating power.
The end result is that Rooney, just like in October 2010, when he used interest in Manchester City to spook United into handing him a lucrative new contract, has taken advantage of the club when they have been at their weakest.
Strangely enough, while his form in the early months of the campaign hinted at a return to his peak, recent weeks have been less impressive.
The persistent groin injury which forced him out of the team in January has blunted Rooney's effectiveness and 2014, to date, has been a wash-out, with no goals in five games as United have struggled.
Rooney has not performed in the manner of Luis Suarez or Sergio Aguero this season, he has not won games on his own and we have still to see him drag United to results in the manner of an Eric Cantona, Roy Keane or even Van Persie.
But despite all that, United now need him more than ever. They need Rooney's name and reputation as much as his goals.
Imagine United losing Rooney this summer, at the same time as awaiting the draw for the Europa League qualifiers in July?
It would be a huge blow to the club's prestige and do little to persuade the world's top players that Old Trafford remained a destination for the best.
Rooney once insisted he would not play on until his mid-30s thirties like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
Thanks to his new contract, he will be earning 300,000-a-week as he builds up to his 34th birthday, so United must have faith that he can confound his doubts to remain an effective player at the very highest level.
But that is for the long-term. The immediate priority was to strike a blow to underpin United's status as one of the biggest clubs in the world and, by keeping Rooney, they have done that.
