Gareth Bale has been an unbelievable performer this year for Spurs, clearly the player of the year. Michael Carrick made United tick, look at the big games where Ferguson put Scholes and Giggs in the centre, ala, City last year, they lost, its no concidience, Carrick is a steady midfielder, dicates the tempo of the game and sets the platform for RVP and others, DEFINATLY a nominee and a contender. The PLAYERS voted for Rio, and he has been consistent this year, Especially how tough it must have been for him with changing centre back partners, no easy feat that. Mata was good but Bale was on a different planet this year, also AVB manages Bale which puts him at a disadvantage before a ball is even kicked! The players vote for this, they play against each other, So i'll trust their opinion rather then the keyboard warriors on here.