 LYON are continuing to contrive a bidding war for Liverpool target Florent Malouda. The midfielder is keen to leave the French champions but his chairman yesterday announced that he wanted £17million for him – way out of Liverpool’s price range. They have been hoping to tie up a deal in the region of £8m but Jean-Michel Aulas is set to play on the fact that Arsenal and Chelsea have also been linked with the France World Cup star. Malouda, who is 27 today, has already revealed that he has had interest from Liverpool and Chelsea and would welcome a move to either. But his club is now hoping to cash in on the fact that he wants to walk away from his current contract four years early by holding out for a price massively inflated from the £10m they initially rated him at. Aulas insists that he is awaiting a bid from an English club but the fee he wants is so far away from Liverpool’s valuation that the transfer saga is in danger of being dragged out, much to Rafael Benitez’s irritation. The Liverpool manager is still waiting to start his summer spending, but the end of the La Liga season this weekend is likely to spark him making inroads into his wanted list. One deal that Liverpool have struck on the continent involves Hungarian club MTK Hungaria, who have revealed that they have set up an official association with the Merseysiders. Benitez has already secured teenagers Andras Simon and Krisztian Nemeth and will have the pick of the Budapest club’s young talent under the new partnership. MTK general director Laszlo Domonyai said: “I can’t express in words what an honour it is for us that Rafael Benitez and his team found us worthy for this co-operation. “This is a milestone not only for MTK but for the whole of Hungarian football. Hungarian talents will get such an opportunity from this agreement that they could only dream about before.” MTK’s young goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi is set to spend 10 days at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground, starting on July 4, but there will also be future opportunities for Liverpool’s young players to gain experience in Hungarian football with MTK. One youngster eyeing a permanent move is 20-year-old midfielder Danny Guthrie, who Southampton want to sign. Guthrie, who made his first team breakthrough at Anfield with seven appearances last season, impressed on loan at St Mary’s at the back end of the campaign. Southampton manager George Burley said: “I like Danny and it’s something we’ll consider – naturally finance will come into play. “He came in and did well for us and we’ll look at in the summer. At the moment he’s not in the Liverpool first team squad so there might be an opportunity there.” | 
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