AJAX star Abdelhak ‘Appie’ Nouri is fully out of a coma and able to communicate with family after going home, his brother has revealed.
The 22-year-old Dutch ace collapsed on the pitch in July 2017 after suffering a cardiac arrhythmia attack.
He sustained severe and permanent brain damage as a result of the incident.
But speaking in a special programme on Dutch TV, his brother Abderrahim has revealed that Appie, who came out of a medically-induced coma in August 2018, is out of hospital and at home and continues to progress.
The family live in a specially adapted house with Nouri able to sit up and in a wheelchair – but the 22-year-old remains “very dependent” on his family.
Abderrahim told De Wereld Draait Door: “I must say that since he is at home it is going much better than before in the hospital.
“He is aware of where he is, he is back in a familiar environment with his family. He’s no longer in a coma. He’s just awake.
“He sleeps, he sneezes, he eats, he burps, but it’s not like he gets out of bed. He’s very bedridden and still very dependent on us.
“On his good days, there is a form of communication, for example, confirmation with his eyebrows or a smile. But you notice that he can’t last that very long.
“We talk to him like he’s not sick. We take him into our conversations and we watch football with him in the living room, for example.
“Then he watches. You notice that he likes that very much. He often shows emotions. Sometimes he is emotional, but often there is also a smile.
“That does us good. That makes you really appreciate a smile.”