Best pal heartbreak that drives Man Utd’s new star
Van de Beek picks shirt number 34 to honour teammate
AFTER being confirmed as Man Utd’s £40million star signing, Donny van de Beek posted a farewell to Ajax fans in the Netherlands.
He also attached four photos – him as a child in the team kit, celebrating a goal, holding a trophy aloft, and a happy teenage picture with best pal Abdelhak Nouri, who collapsed during a match in 2017 and was left brain damaged.
The midfielder, 23, now uses the tragedy as motivation to play well and insisted on wearing the 34 jersey – Nouri’s old shirt number – before his move to Old Trafford.
The pair were the stars of Ajax’s academy, racking up goals, assists and youth league titles in their teenage years.
Born weeks apart, they were supposed to achieve football greatness together.
But just as Van de Beek and Nouri were about to burst into the senior side, tragedy struck.
Nouri, nicknamed Appie, collapsed with a cardiac arrest during a pre-season friendly in Austria, leaving him with permanent brain damage.
He was in a coma for nearly three years, his family only announcing he was awake and being cared for in a specially built home in March.
Footage from the day shows Van de Beek looking on in shock as a medical tent is assembled around his friend.
He and team mates rush around him, some in tears, others praying, as a helicopter lands on the pitch near Innsbruck to airlift Nouri to hospital.
Van de Beek later described himself as “broken” by the tragedy, admitting that he sometimes cannot bring himself to visit Appie because he knows he will not sleep for weeks.
Nouri once helped Van de Beek with his own tragedy when his younger brother Rody developed a brain tumour.
After one match, Nouri revealed a T-shirt under his Ajax shirt with Rody’s picture on it and the word Sterkte! – Strength!
Rody eventually made a full recovery and cried during an interview earlier this year when
remembering his childhood ordeal. Describing how his illness had affected his brother, he said: “I think he managed to draw strength from it in games.”
In the same way, many believe Van de Beek, devastated that his best friend was robbed of the chance at showing his skills on the world stage, is determined to keep his name alive through his own career.
Before the tragedy, Nouri chose the 34 jersey for his first team debut as he wanted to help Ajax win a 34th title.
Van de Beek played that season determined to fulfil Nour i ’s
ambi
tion, eventually lifting the trophy for his friend, by then still in an induced coma.
Following the win, he said: “We really wanted to achieve it, that title. It was so loaded. We all played for Abdelhak.”
Van de Beek went on to score 41 times in 175 matches for Ajax, emerging as a star during their run to the semi-finals of last year’s Champions League.
After scoring in the second leg of the quarter-final, which Ajax won 2- 1 in Turin, he turned and pointed to the back of his shirt.
He later said: “I looked at the screen and I saw my goal was in the 34th minute. It had to be him, you have to think.”
The Dutchman’s move to United appears to have been conditional on him playing in the 34 shirt, with goalkeeper Dean Henderson agreeing to give up the number for him.
United confirmed Henderson had “kindly” accepted Van de Beek’s request to take the shirt.
Van de Beek, whose girlfriend is Estelle Bergkamp, daughter of Arsenal legend Dennis, said: “I want to get good memories with this number.”
I scored in the 34th minute... it just had to be him
DONNY VAN DE BEEK ON IMPORTANT GOAL