His image has already been damaged, he'd been dropped from some advertising campaign. I can't see his reputation getting that much worse out of this and even so perhaps SAF considered this the lesser of 2 evils. His people would have been involved in this too.
I just can't see such a massive U turn coming so soon after him saying he wants to leave. 5 years is a big contract to sign.
And I really can't remember anything mentioned about Rooney possibly leaving back in AUgust
