There two ways of looking at this:
1) Steven Taylor has yet to put pen to paper on a new deal and Wheater would be the perfect replacement.
2) The Boro star knows it is now-or-never if he wants to join a club that can get him into the England set-up.
Chris Hughton isn't the only Magpies manager to run the rule over the Redcar-born centre-back ... who has twice snubbed bids from the Toon.
But the player wants to stay in the north-east and that has Sunderland sniffing about, but Steve Bruce has already been told he will not be given money in the January transfer window.
Stoke City, Everton, Liverpool and Aston Villa all known to be considering making a bid in January.
Like Taylor, Wheater (a former England Under-21 international) will become a free agent at the end of the season when his contract expires.
The 23-year-old was once regarded in the £9m bracket, but Middlesbrough would hope to land around £2m for for a player out of contract in six months.