Wayne Rooney has unsurprisingly been voted runner-up to Robin van Persie for the Football Writers' Association (FWA) Player of the Year award. The Manchester United striker currently is sitting on 26 league goals while the Arsenal striker has bagged 27 goals. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, United midfielder Paul Scholes has come in third in the voting. The 37-year-old announced his retirement prior to this season but he made a return in January. Since Scholes's comeback from retirement, United have earned 38 league points out of a possible 45 and the only match in that span that they suffered defeat in is the lone one that the midfield maestro did not feature in. In addition, in the matches that Scholes has started, this past weekend's 4-4 draw with Everton is the only match where points have been dropped by United.

FWA chairman Steve Bates, chief football writer at The People, had this to say about van Persie -- who also won the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year award on Sunday:

"Robin was the overwhelming choice of our members this season and deservedly so after a magnificent campaign for Arsenal. The quality of his goals, attacking movement and consistency in a turbulent season for the Gunners has been eye-catching. The considerable size of his majority in the votes cast by our members reflected the general view that he has been the season's most outstanding individual performer."