Wheater (left) was close to tears after Boro's relegation at Upton Park
Middlesbrough centre-back David Wheater has vowed to help the club he supports return to the Premier League following their relegation to the Championship.
The 22-year-old has played 87 games for Boro and insists he will not put in a transfer request and only leave if boss Gareth Southgate accepts a bid for him.
"I've got two more years left here so it is up to the manager," said Wheater.
"I'm happy to stay. I've supported Boro all my life. They are a team I want to play for and try to get them back up."
Boro could have avoided the drop from the Premier League had they beaten West Ham at Upton Park on Sunday, but their 2-1 defeat condemned them to the second tier of English football.
But Wheater insists the prospect of playing Championship football will not harm his long-term England ambitions.
He has been a regular in the England Under-21 set-up over the last couple of years and made the substitute's bench for last year's full international friendlies against France and Trinidad & Tobago.
"Maybe if I was 28 or 29 and still hadn't played for England then I might be thinking differently but I've got plenty of years ahead to get in the England squad," he reasoned.
"I won't ask for a transfer but if the manager accepts another bid then that is a different matter."
Wheater will miss the European Championships with England Under-21s this summer as he needs surgery on his knee, so any move would be dependent on his recovery.
However, even if he did move, he would not relish being too far away from Teesside.
"It would be horrible," he said. "To move away from my family and friends as well.
"I'm young and haven't been away from my family before so that would be hard but it's a job at the end of the day, you have to do what is best for you.
"I haven't thought about it because this is the club I want to be at."
However, Wheater has resigned himself to at least losing team-mates Stewart Downing and Tuncay in the inevitable summer shuffle at the Riverside.
"Downing is too good for the Championship," he said.
"Tuncay as well, he's too good for the Championship. But it is down to them.
"I'd like to think that I'm too good for the Championship but that's obviously where I'm heading at the moment."
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