EMANUEL POGATETZ believes David Wheater would be on the verge of an England call up if he was playing for one of the Premier League's top four clubs.

It is a mark of the progress Wheater has shown this season that he has established himself as one of Boro's first-choice centre-backs.

And, despite not turning 21 until February 14, Wheater's emergence on to the top stage has opened the door for a move away from the club for £7m defender Jonathan Woodgate, who only arrived on a permanent basis in the summer.

Wheater's heroics at the back for Boro, for whom he has scored four times this season, are likely to have caught new England manager Fabio Capello's eye.

Capello's assistant, Franco Baldini, was at Blackburn last weekend to witness another outstanding showing from the player, but it's unlikely that Redcar's rising star will be named in the Italian's first squad for the visit of Switzerland on February 6.

While Pogatetz is not demanding Wheater's immediate call-up, the Austrian feels that his teammates enormous development has been overlooked in recent months because he is not challenging for the Premier League title.

"People would talk about him more if he was at a bigger club," said Pogatetz. "At a bigger club maybe he'd be pushed more in the media. He's not just defending well, he's scoring goals.

"It's good for him to be here; it's not always good to get the attention but we must respect what he's doing. He gets more of a chance here because he's playing really well and scoring goals.

"I don't want to say he should be called up for the England team, but if he continues then who knows?

"I'm so pleased for him, he's a hard-working lad and you can see that the loan spells he has had have done him good.

"He can become a very good player and if he was playing like this for Chelsea or Liverpool at the moment, people would be saying he should play for England, he would get more respect playing for a bigger team."

Wheater, on loan at Darlington at the start of last year, is out of contract in the summer and manager Gareth Southgate recently admitted that talks are underway to reward him for his progress.

Pogatetz added: "I'm confident he'll sign a new deal and that gives us a boost to know he'll be here for years to come.

"For his age I've not seen many better or more consistent and he deserves respect for that. There are not many defenders doing what he's doing at present. He's not been playing like that for a couple of games, he's been doing it all season."

While Wheater looks set to remain at Boro, Stewart Downing's position is less certain.

Downing's situation continues to be monitored by Tottenham and Everton, although neither have brokered an agreement over Middlesbrough's £12m valuation.

The fact the club have failed to come up with a contract offer he deems suitable has led to Downing questioning his future at the Riverside Stadium.

And Pogatetz believes the rest of the squad have to convince him to stay on Teesside.

"It's always important you keep your best players but if they want to leave there's not a lot the club can do about it," he said.

"If he wants to leave, maybe not now but in the summer, it'll be hard for the club to keep him, so we have to create an atmosphere that encourages him to stay, that's all we can do."

It remains to be seen whether Southgate decides to rest Downing in the FA Cup fourth round tie at Mansfield at lunchtime today, with Adam Johnson hoping for a first-team outing.

The Stags occupy 91st position in the Football League and the third-round success over Brighton on January 5 was the highlight of their season so far.

But Pogatetz is not expecting an easy outing at Field Mill. "I don't know a lot about Mansfield, you can't expect to know every player in England, but I know it will be tough," he said.

"It's the game of the year for them, they're up for it and they're waiting for us to fail. If you start thinking it's easy and doing little tricks and play only 80 per cent then you can get caught out and they'll go right through you because the crowd will be up for it. We have to do our job and hopefully our quality will come through."

Mansfield assistant manager Paul Holland insists that revenge will not be on his mind today.

Holland was part of the Chesterfield side cruelly denied an historic semi-final victory over Boro in 1997 at Old Trafford, when they led Bryan Robson's Premier League strugglers 2-1.

With little over 20 minutes remaining, Spireites' Jonathan Howard turned on the edge of the six-yard box and shot against the crossbar. The ball bounced down behind the line and the linesman flagged for a goal, but referee David Elleray, who was only a few yards away from the incident, instead gave a foul against Chesterfield striker Andy Morris as he tried to reach the rebound. Television replays confirmed that the ball had crossed the line.

The game finished 3-3 after extra-time and Boro went on to play Chelsea in the final after winning the replay 3-0 at Hillsborough.

Holland said: ''As disappointing as it was I don't look back with any resentment at all.

''It is something that when you look back on it you can't really let it spoil the occasion. It was just nice to get the limelight for once in your career and perform on such a great stage.

''It won't be a case of revenge. It was a long time ago and this is a different Middlesbrough side.