Sunderland have won their two games since sacking Tony Mowbray, with Mike Dodds in caretaker charge, but the club have been keen to sort out the vacuum soon.
Will Steele was pursued at Reims but it became clear that the French club wanted hefty compensation in order to release him.
Beale is now getting close to filling the vacancy left by Mowbray, who took Sunderland to the playoff spots last season.
And it has been claimed that his role would be different to that he experienced in his previous job at Rangers.
The former Rangers boss would have to accept the role of head coach at Sunderland rather than manager.
He will also have to agree to include Mike Dodds and Michael Procter as part of his coaching staff.
The talks are proceeding as expected and Beale’s appointment is likely to be finalised soon.
He struggled at Rangers and was sacked, while his stint at QPR was a short one, meaning Beale will likely need to hit the ground running at Sunderland to win over the doubters.
