Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson can understand Tottenham star Gareth Bale winning the PFA Player of the Year.

But he does believe Robin van Persie was unfortunate not to be recognised.

"Maybe Robin (Van Persie) is a little bit unlucky, in that he hit a quiet spell for a while and didn't score. At that time, Bale was bashing them in from all sorts of distances, so he had the edge.

"But in the last few weeks, Robin's performances have been fantastic, while Bale has been quiet and has tapered off a bit.

"There is not much between the two of them in terms of performances this season. It is reflected in the percentage of the votes. There wasn't much between the two of them.

"The PFA is different. I think the votes are done around January. At that period Bale was flying and Robin wasn't performing as well as him."