Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor is not ready to return to football as he struggles to come to terms with last week's deadly attack on the Togo team bus at the African Cup of Nations in Angola.
Togo's media officer died in Adebayor's arms last Friday in the Angolan region of Cabinda - one of three deaths in the gun attack, which led to the team pulling out of the tournament.
Adebayor is recovering back home in Togo and isn't contemplating returning to England for City's match against Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
"If it meant going back tomorrow, I wouldn't be capable of giving everything that I've got," Adebayor said in an interview with SNTV on Wednesday.
"I will not be able to play that game," he added. "Even me standing on that pitch would be the worst thing that I could do because I am not 100 percent yet and I have to start training first, recover first from what happened. At the moment my head is not on football now. We are talking about lives - life is more important than football."
Man City has granted the 25-year-old Adebayor compassionate leave to stay with his family in Togo's capital of Lome.
"At the moment, I'm just sweating everyday and every day that God made," Adebayor said. "At the moment, I can't even eat - I'm losing weight, which is very difficult for everyone. I will take time and I will come back on the pitch at the right time.
"And I think my boss (Roberto Mancini) and my team understand that is the most important thing. And they know I need time to recover from this, and at the moment I am just staying home with all my (Togo) teammates. We are all together - (as) one."
Adebayor is pleased that City beat Blackburn in his absence on Monday to move into the top four of the Premier League.
"I appreciate what we are doing at the moment," he said. "But my head is not what we are scoring at the moment, my head is on the families that lost their people."
