NOU FEEL: Inside Barcelona’s £550million, revamped Nou Camp with boosted 105,000 capacity, new indoor arena and a roof that catches rain in order to water the pitch

Europe's biggest stadium is about to get a long-overdue face-lift, with work set to take four years.

By Adrian Addison in Barcelona

LIONEL MESSI weaves his magic out there most weekends. Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo all plied their trade here too... and Gary Lineker.

But Barcelona's Nou Camp - which means "new field" in Catalan - is looking pretty old these days.

Europe's biggest stadium, which has sat in a basin just outside the city centre for over 60 years, is overdue an upgrade - and is about to get exactly that.

It is to be rebuilt and turned inside out so that many of the facilities for up to 105,000 fans will be open to Barcelona's usually warm and pleasant air.

The bill for the new stadium will be around £550million or, to put it in football currency, a pair of Neymars and a Philippe Coutinho.

A deal for the naming rights is expected in the next few weeks and could bring in around £200m to help pay for it.

The plans may have an open feel but all the seats inside will be covered by a new roof that will harvest rain to water the pitch and solar energy to power the grow lights for the grass.

Barca's renovation plans also include another 6,000 capacity stadium for their B team named after club legend Johann Cruyff.

In fact, it's already under construction at the training complex outside the city.

On top of that, they're constructing new 12,000-seat Palau Blaugrana indoor arena on the Camp Nou site.

Work on the New Camp Nou, which looks a bit like a stack of dinner plates, is due to start next year.

It is scheduled to begin 2019 and it will be done in phases over four years - so the ground will remain open ahead of its expected 2022-23 season kick-off.

Takeyuki Katsuya, the Japanese architect behind the plans, said: "Our design is based on only the essence of the original stadium.

"We will make a free, open space around the stadium like a large piece of origami, carefully arranged not to disturb the flow of the people into the stadium.

"People can enjoy the Mediterranean climate. When I see the Mediterranean sea I feel liberty, freedom.

"We want to make a stadium that the members want and will enjoy."

The co-designers, Japanese architectural firm Nikken Sekkei, were also the brains behind the Tokyo Dome, Saitama Super Arena and Niigata's Big Swan Stadium, all in Japan.

But it's their first major project in Europe, which they are developing in partnership with local architect Joan Pascual.

And Pascual said: "The whole project needs to simultaneously capture the two settings, the stadium and the city.

"We understand what Barca is, what it represents. We know what Barça represents for Barcelona.

"The project is very respectful towards the work of (original Camp Nou architect) Mitjans in 1957.

"Taking it and turning it outward, we automatically saw that the stadium opened unto the city. And it appeared that we already had it, that that was it.

"In this sense, we said: 'The climate of Barcelona allows it. We open it and we leave all of this open space.'

"This is what makes it unique, different. This way it is timeless, it will not go out of fashion."

The original Camp Nou, officially the FC Barcelona Stadium but the name never stuck because fans simply went to "the new field" to see their team, was opened in 1957 after the club outgrew its previous ground nearby.

The current 99,000 seat stadium has been remodelled and expanded since. But the New Camp Nou project will be its first major overhaul.

"It will be like no other stadium in the world", added Nikken Sekkei President, Tadao Kaemi.

THE SUN: Adrian Addison in Barcelona. Published: 19 Feb 2018