USA manager Jurgen Klinsmann says he is prepared to put Clint Dempsey into the firing line for his sides upcoming World Cup qualifying double-header with Jamaica.
The US meet the Reggae Boyz in Kingston on September 7 before the return bout in Columbus four days later with Klinsmann calling on Dempsey despite the Tottenham signing hardly playing at all over summer.
Dempsey made the move to White Hart Lane across London from Fulham last week and even though he hasn't been in action at all yet, Klinsmann is ready to play him against Jamaica.
"We are absolutely open to throwing him in the water right away in Jamaica if he's really in a good physical condition and feeling really fine," Klinsmann said.
"There will never be a game where we have everybody 100 per cent on board. It's just the way soccer works."
And Klinsmann added that it was important for Dempsey, who was Fulham's top scorer last season, to sort out his future so he can simply concentrate on what he does best - play football.
"First of all, we are happy that this whole thing was finalised," the German tactician added.
"It is really important now that Clint can put this behind him. It was not all the time pretty what happened the last couple of months.
"Obviously he dragged this with him the whole summer. He was concerned about it, which is normal. I'm happy the decision was finally made and finally the move happened. Now he comes in and we'll evaluate him.
"We'll test his fitness level right away when he comes in. Based on all that information we can see how we play him in those two very, very important World Cup qualifiers."
