Justin Kluivert has paid an emotional tribute to former Ajax team-mate and good friend Abdelhak ‘Appie’ Nouri by choosing to wear the No 34 shirt at Roma.
Following his £16million move to the Serie A, Kluivert revealed his new number in a heartfelt video on Instagram, where he decided to drop his usual number of 45 for good friend Nouri’s.
Nouri, who wore the No 34 for Ajax, suffered a cardiac arrest during the match against German club Werder Bremen in July 2017 and despite being revived on the pitch and airlifted to a hospital, the 21-year-old suffered ‘serious and permanent’ brain damage.
Kluivert explained his reasons for the shirt number on Instagram.
He said: ‘Why 34? Appie’s number. My prayers and shirt number for you, my friend-brother who taught me so much.’
Ajax admitted to providing ‘inadequate’ on-field medical treatment for Nouri following the incident.
‘We recognise our responsibility and liability for the consequences of this,’ club general manager Van der Sar said last month.
‘For a long time we were convinced that Abdelhak had received the best possible care on the field.’
The Dutch club said it had sought an external opinion during the incident and acted accordingly but further investigations showed that a defibrillator should have been used sooner in the treatment.
‘Had this happened, it’s possible that Abdelhak would have come out in a better condition. This isn’t certain, but it’s a possibility,’ the former Manchester United goalkeeper added.
Nouri, born in Amsterdam to parents of Moroccan descent, made 15 appearances for Ajax in his debut 2016-17 season.