The family of Ajax footballer Abdelhak Nouri has threatened to take the football club to court if it does not propose a damages package within six months, reports NOS Nieuwsuur.

Two years ago the footballer – then 20 – had a heart attack during a game in Austria and suffered serious brain damage. He now needs 24-hour care.

Last year the club admitted liability for failing to treat him properly immediately on the pitch, but the lawyer for Nouri’s family John Beer says that a compensation agreement has been slow in coming.

‘At some point, we will go to the courts or an arbitration committee,’ he told Nieuwsuur on Monday night. ‘If you don’t reanimate someone who has had a heart attack, oxygenated blood does not reach the brain. If that happens for a period of time, brain cells die, and will not grow again. The neurological situation is the same.’

He said the popular, young footballer was in a ‘sub-coma-like’ state but could make some form of contact with his family and seemed to be aware of his situation.

Last year Ajax chief executive Edwin van der Sar apologised to the family for ‘inadequate’ medical treatment. Cardiologists at UMC are reportedly investigating how heart screening can be improved to prevent such a situation in the future.