Manchester: Manchester United’s new midfielder Donny van de Beek said he will wear the number 34 in tribute to his former Ajax partner Abdelhak Nouri, who suffered a stroke following a central attack in 2017.
Nouri, who also used the number, made his senior debut in 2016–17 before his career as a player ended prematurely after suffering a cardiac arrest in a pre-season friendly in Austria.
Although he revived in the box and rushed to the hospital, Nouri suffered severe and permanent brain damage.
“It’s something special for me by my friend Abdelhak Nouri,” he told the van de Beek club website, who joined United from Ajax on Wednesday on a five-year contract.
“He had a center attack. I’m very close to his family circle and his brother is one of my most productive colleagues and I communicate a lot with them, so I take his old number on my blouse and I need to be smart.”memoirs with this number.
Another Ajax academy graduate, Phillippe Sandler, also number 34 after joining Manchester City in 2018.
Nouri’s mind is never far from Van de Beek, who in the past paid tribute to his friend after scoring in the 34th minute of a Champions League win over Juventus last year.
Ajax, who had continued to pay Nouri after the incident, cancelled his contract in March.
Dutch media reported at the time that the club in talks with Nouri’s circle of relatives about a long-term solution for the player, who had been moved to a specially adapted room after years of hospitalization.
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