Acun Ilicali says he's excited to have clinched a deal for highly-rated Aston Villa starlet Louie Barry. City have beaten off competition from six other clubs to sign the attacker, with Ilicali admitting the Barcelona youngster is keen to make his mark in East Yorkshire.

Barry is undergoing a medical at City on Tuesday and will train with his new teammates later in the week ahead of Saturday's game against Stoke City at the MKM Stadium, with the 21-year-old primed to make his debut, albeit off the bench.

The talented youngster, who can play wide or through the middle, bagged 15 goals in 23 games in the first half of the season during an impressive loan spell at Stockport County in League One, having helped them secure promotion from League Two the season before.

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Signing Barry from Aston Villa comes on the back of City bringing in the likes of Liam Delap, Tyler Morton, Jaden Philogene and Fabio Carvalho in the recent past. Ilicali says the club's reputation in developing top young players has been a big factor in the deal, highlighting the work done by former head coach Liam Rosenior and current boss Ruben Selles.

"We just express ourselves in the best way to get young talents and explain to them what the project is about," he told Sky Sports when asked how the club were able to attract the youngster. "As the owner of the restaurant, sometimes I have to be involved in the operations. For example, if you own a restaurant and you know how to cook, it is always a better advantage that you can deal with some problems when needed.

"I've been living in football for 20 years, and I'm like a football maniac, I call myself. When it is needed, of course, I'm involved in this kind of conversation. We just put a project in front of our young talent, but on the other hand, of course, we had a fantastic last year where we improved the talents that came to our team, and we took care of them, and we showed them, love.

"Our supporters made them feel like they are at home. I think Hull is the best place for me in England by far, having the feeling of a family with the fans and everybody who comes to our club is happy.

"This advantage, of course, is a big advantage for every young talent that has so many offers in his hand that he explains who he is coming from and what he did before.

"When you look at our last year, we just transferred six of the players to the Premier League. Can you believe (we had) a team with six players in the Premier League (for the) next year, and all of them young players?

"This is a good advantage for us, and I think the way we treat the players, the way we play football, and our coach is a big advantage. Last year, Liam (Rosenior) was a big advantage. This year, Ruben is a big advantage, so the boys feel at home, and they just give their career responsibility to us.

"Our players are more important than anything, so we show them love, and everybody knows it. I'm so excited to get Louie to our team. I talked to him, and he's also excited. I'm very happy that he's excited, too."