Nouri out of coma, but condition is unchanged

STRICKEN Ajax midfielder Abdelhak Nouri, who suffered serious, lasting brain damage after collapsing during a friendly, has been transferred out of intensive care, and can breathe on his own, the club said on Tuesday. The 20-yearold is being cared for in a hospital in Amsterdam, where he was brought on July 14 from one in Austria. “He is no longer in an induced coma and has full respiratory functions,” the club said in a statement issued in the name of his family. But it added that “his condition further remains unchanged from previous updates and is stable, but with serious and permanent brain damage”. The youngster, who broke into the first team last season and made nine appearances in the Dutch top flight will not be able to play again.