Cash-strapped Barcelona selling DIAMONDS made from the Nou Camp grass amid financial woes
BARCELONA have come up with a Nou concept to generate some extra cash to help ease their financial troubles.
And it is by turning grass from the hallowed turf of their old iconic home into DIAMONDS and flogging them.
Barcelona announced in July 2022 that they were pressing ahead with plans to modernise their Nou Camp stadium.
The project will cost a cool £1.25billion and is aiming to be finished in time for the start of the 2025/26 season.
The huge redevelopment will see the capacity expanded from 99,354 seats to 105,000, increasing its gap as the largest football ground in Europe – with second place Wembley having a 90,000 capacity.
It is also set to see a roof added alongside a stadium rename in line with the club’s £237m sponsorship deal with Spotify.
That has resulted in them playing their 2023/24 home matches at the Olympic Stadium.
However, we reported how the LaLiga giants have reportedly put the entire squad up for sale with the club in desperate need of funds.
Superstars such as like Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele have all had to depart the club to balance the books over recent years – with the club understood to have been debt by as much as £1billion in 2021.
But despite announcing a pre-tax profit of £263million last month, Barca need to offload more because they are operating above the LaLiga spending limit of £234m.
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Now it has emerged that the club have devised some other ways to raise some extra cash from the leftovers of their stadium refurb.
They are giving fans the chance to buy pieces of memorabilia from the Nou Camp by selling old seats from the ground.
The most-expensive available on their website to buy is £260, which comes in a wooden frame.
The cheapest, which are stuck on a black base, are priced at £86.
Barcelona were already selling pieces of turf that were ripped up when the construction work began.
But, in a unique move, they are available in more than just the traditional way.
Barcelona are selling a collection of ethical and sustainable diamonds that were created from the carbon of the grass from their final home match of last season.
The diamonds are made from the carbon of the grass and were then prepared for crystallisation using high technology together with renewable energy, allowing totally sustainable pieces with zero environmental impact.
Specialists have shaped each of the rough diamonds to “obtain unique pieces” and they all “come accompanied by a certificate of authenticity detailing the origin of the carbon, the characteristics of the diamond and the series certification”, according to Mundo Deportivo.
There are one-carat, 0.50 carats, 0.10 carat badges, necklaces and bracelets with the diamond extracts available to buy.
However, they do not come cheaply with the prices starting at £434.
The sale will run from Tuesday 14 November until Monday 27 November.