Ajax starlet Abdelhak Nouri wakes from coma and can ‘communicate through gestures’ after suffering brain damage following pitch collapse
Nouri was playing for Ajax against Werder Bremen in July 2017 when he collapsed and has been unconscious since but looks to be making progress
AJAX wonderkid Abdelhak Nouri has woken from his coma and is able to communicate with his family for the first time since his collapse in July 2017.
Nouri's brother confirmed that the Ajax player's condition is improving and although he cannot move his body yet, he has been helped out of bed and sat in his wheelchair.
Abderrahim Nouri, 25, said: "His neurological condition is better than a few months ago. Physically, it's hard.
"He does not move the body, just the head, but sometimes he gets out of bed to sit in his wheelchair. You can communicate with him.
"In the beginning we were not allowed to stay with him for a long time. Those are the hospital's rules. You have visiting hours. But after a while the doctors saw that we as family had a lot of influence on Abdelhak.
"He became calmer. He recognised us. We reassure him, he hears a familiar voice. Since then we can, and do, stay with him 24 hours a day. Because it does him good."
Nouri suffered brain damage after a heart attack due to cardiac arrhythmia while playing in a pre-season friendly against Werder Bremen last summer.
Since then, he has been moved from hospital to hospital but is now in a nursing home and making progress, with his family on hand to help feed him in preparation for when he able to return home.
His family can give him instructions such as to open his mouth or raise his eyebrow and Nouri is able to respond accordingly.
The fact that he is awake and communicating through such gestures is welcome news for the family, of course, as well as Ajax and the wider footballing community.
Relationships between people at the Dutch club and the family remain strong, despite Ajax admitting they provided "inadequate" care on the pitch in the immediate aftermath of the collapse before he was then airlifted to hospital.
Initially they insisted they did all they could but general manager Edwin Van der Sar said in June: "For a long time we were convinced that Abdelhak had received the best possible care on the field."
But when further investigations showed a defibrillator should have been used sooner, he added: "Had this happened, it's possible that Abdelhak would have come out in a better condition."
Doctors believed he would never see, talk, move or eat again but in December, while still in the coma, he smiled when a football was placed in his hands.
The 21-year-old Nouri came through Ajax's academy system and spent the 2016/17 season representing the second team, being named player of the season.
It was during that campaign Nouri was promoted to the first team, playing three matches in their run to the Europa League final as well as nine Eredivisie games.
