Ajax midfielder suffers permanent brain damage after collapsing during game
Ajax midfielder Abdelhak Nouri was “diagnosed with serious and permanent brain damage,” the Dutch pro team announced on Thursday, days after the 20-year-old collapsed in a game.
Nouri was thought to have suffered a cardiac arrhythmia during Saturday’s game against Werder Bremen, and he was placed in a medically induced coma. The BBC reported that he showed signs of improvement before brain scans found the damage.
"The diagnosis was made that a lot of (Nouri’s) brain is not functioning. All this probably occurred due to a lack of oxygen supply," Ajax said in a statement.
Nouri will be transferred from an Austrian hospital to one in his native Amsterdam, but the team said “chances of recovery from this crucial brain function is nil.”
“This is the worst possible message,” Ajax CEO Edwin van der Sar said in a statement. “It's terrible. We feel enormously with his parents, siblings and other relatives. Their suffering is impossible to describe."
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