Ajax have confirmed midfielder Abdelhak Nouri has been moved out of intensive care and is breathing unaided nearly three weeks after collapsing in a pre-season friendly.

However, despite coming out of a coma, Nouri still remains in a serious condition with permanent brain damage.

The 20-year-old collapsed due to heart failure during Ajax's friendly with Werder Bremen on July 8 - which was subsequently abandoned - and was treated on the pitch before being airlifted to hospital.

Early scans did not show any abnormalities with his brain but further tests brought a devastating diagnosis.

Ajax play their first competitive game of the new campaign against Nice in the Champions League third qualifying round on Wednesday, and boss Marcel Keizer admits his squad are struggling to deal with the developments surrounding Nouri.

"We are talking about Appie every day," Keizer told a media conference.

"It's very serious what happened to him. We are all having a lot of trouble [dealing] with it.

"We have tried to give a lot of support to the Nouri family. That has been successful, but we have also received a lot of support from them."