John Anthony Brooks currently finds himself out of Hertha Berlin's first team but USA boss Juergen Klinsmann insists he is not worried.
The 21-year old central defender has appeared just three times in the Bundesliga this season after some subpar form early in the campaign with his last start coming on September 19.
Brooks has been dropped to Hertha's reserves by manager Jos Luhukay but Klinsmann believes is not too anxious as he feels it is simply part of developing as a footballer.
"I would describe it as something typical in the early stage of your career," Klinsmann said.
"You have moments where he does something wrong at a training session, or maybe he's not as attentive in a moment and coach wants to give you a little lesson.
"So he leaves you out for the next game and puts you down with the U-23 team. That's the education process that he's going through."
Brooks, who scored the winner against Ghana in the USA's opening World Cup fixture in the summer, could have been forgiven for thinking he would step straight into Hertha's first team after returning from Brazil but Klinsmann says that is not how it works in this day and age.
"[Brooks needs] to not have the feeling, 'I'm guaranteed here, I'm coming back from the World Cup, I even scored a goal so now it's all good in my club team I'm undoubtedly a starter,'" Klinsmann added.
"That's not the case. Not in Europe. So that's what they are teaching him right now.
"He should be back on track when he gets home from here and has to show his coach that he's taking those lessons the right way."
Brooks is in line to take on Ecuador on Friday in Connecticut and Honduras in Florida on Tuesday in the USA's two friendlies over the international break.
