**Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said he will allow Emmanuel Adebayor to decide when he will be ready to return to first-team action.**The striker is back in Togo following the horrific gun attack at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola that killed three members of the country’s party.
“I am very sorry for him, I will just wait for him,” said Mancini after City’s 4-1 win over Blackburn.
“When he comes back I will let him decide when he wants to play.”
Togo’s national team have pulled out of the Cup of Nations and are spending three days in official mourning following the attack in the troubled, oil-rich province of Cabinda in the north-west of Angola on Friday.
The team’s assistant coach, press officer and bus driver died in the attack by Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (Flec) rebels.
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Adebayor has scored six goals in the Premier League this season and while City will be keen to reintegrate him back into the side as soon as possible, Mancini has plenty of firepower to cover in the 25-year-old’s absence.
The Italian was particularly pleased with the performance of striker Carlos Tevez, who notched an impressive hat-trick in the 4-1 victory over Blackburn on Monday.
The Argentine took his goalscoring tally to 15 for the season - 10 of which have come in City’s last seven league matches.
“To score three goals, three very good goals, for us is very special but everyone knows how good he is,” said Mancini.
"I wanted him to come to Inter. I asked about him but of course there was no chance because he was at Manchester United.
“Carlos is a top player. He is playing very well and I am very happy for him. It is most important for me that he continues to play in this way.”
The victory enabled City to leapfrog fellow top-four contenders Tottenham into fourth place, only seven points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea.
But despite talk of a potential title bid, Mancini remained sanguine about City’s prospects of silverware.
"I would be happy if the Premier League finished now. We still have to improve and for that we need five or six of our best players back.
“I am very happy for the result [against Blackburn] because the squad played very well, but we must stay concentrating all the time, we can’t concede a goal because in football the situation can change in one second and for this I am so angry.”
As for defender Micah Richards, who scored a terrific goal at Eastlands on Monday, he said: “Micah is a young player, but I think if we work well in training sessions he can improve a lot. He is a good player but he must improve a lot.”