Emmanuel Adebayor's residence in Ghana had some illustrious guests last June. Samuel Eto'o, Michael Ballack, Jay-Jay Okocha, Michael Essien, Florent Malouda and Djibril Cissé were among those who made the place their hangout. It is fair to say that good times were had. Either they went out or the party came to them.

There was a daily feature at 5am. Adebayor would be up and going through the Insanity fitness programme that he followed with his personal trainer. Insanity is the extreme work-out from the United States and the name does it justice. One of Adebayor's non-footballing guests joked that the five-minute warm-down almost killed him.

Adebayor was focused. The Tottenham Hotspur striker did not drink and he held it down on the party front. He swam lengths of the pool in the afternoons like a demon. His plan was not merely to be ready for the beginning of pre-season training but to report in peak condition.

He felt as though he had something to prove after a disappointing season, in which he had scored only eight goals for Tottenham and had his attitude questioned. There was the red card in the derby at his former club, Arsenal, and the pantomime relating to his late return from the Africa Cup of Nations with Togo. He also struggled with injuries.

On a more humorous note, Adebayor would hear Eto'o, chipping away in his ear, calling him "Little man". "Hey little man, you want to see some trophies. I've got three Champions Leagues, two African Nations Cups … " the Cameroon and Chelsea striker would say. All good fun but no competitor likes to be on the receiving end.

Adebayor was on a mission to shut people up. Then, he had his world turned upside down.

To appreciate the reasons for Adebayor's patch of six goals in eight games, as he prepares to face another former club, Manchester City, at White Hart Lane on Wednesday night, it is necessary to wind the clock back to the summer, when the adrenaline and the anticipation was suddenly lanced by tragedy.

On his arrival in Hong Kong for the Barclays Asia Trophy towards the end of July, Adebayor learned of the death of his older brother, Peter. One day, Peter was seemingly healthy and happy; the next he was gone. Adebayor had previously buried his father. He had buried members of the Togo national team set-up, following the fatal attack on their bus before the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. Now it was Peter.

Adebayor was upset and angry. He played for Tottenham against Sunderland in the opening tie of the pre-season tournament but his head and his heart were not in it. He argued with André Villas-Boas in Hong Kong, in front of the squad, after the then manager made a comment about Michael Dawson being his best defender. Adebayor disagreed. It was something and nothing, a needless flare-up but it shone a light on the pair's fractious relationship. Villas-Boas perceived a threat to his authority.

Adebayor was granted extended compassionate leave – he made two trips to Africa to arrange Peter's funeral – but, when he returned to Tottenham in September, he was told, not by Villas-Boas but one of the club's physiotherapists, that he would have to train with the youth team.

Villas-Boas's reasoning was that Adebayor had dropped behind the other first-teamers in terms of fitness and he would be better off working on a specially tailored programme away from them. Scientifically, it might have been the correct decision but, in human terms, it was not.

Adebayor resolved to compartmentalise his professional problems. When he was asked to apologise to the squad for any disrespect he might have shown to smooth his way back into first-team training, he did so. He made sure that he was early every day for training. He worked hard. The old Adebayor would have downed tools and sought a move. But the 29-year-old is more mature these days; his Christian faith is stronger.

Villas-Boas continued to overlook him, apart from when he gave him a run in the second half of the disastrous 6-0 defeat at City on 24 November and, by the time that the team lost 5-0 at home to Liverpool on 15 December, the chairman Daniel Levy had added Adebayor's treatment by the manager to the list of complaints that he had against him. Levy pays Adebayor handsomely. He does not do so for him to sit in the stands.

When Villas-Boas was sacked the morning after the Liverpool game and his replacement, Tim Sherwood, reinstated Adebayor for the Capital One Cup quarter-final at home to West Ham United, the striker played as if on an Insanity work-out. He could give vent to months of frustration but he channelled it and when the big chance came, from Jermain Defoe's cross, he crashed a stunning side-on volley in off the underside of the crossbar.

On his first start in seven months, the quality was practically insulting and it reinforced a narrative that has long stalked Adebayor – with him, there are simply no half measures.

Sherwood describes him as a "warrior" and "one of the top players" in England. "He is cleverer than people think," Sherwood adds. "Adebayor realises and he learns from his mistakes. He is a good character around the place, a total professional and he is really focused game to game."

Adebayor likes Sherwood, just as he did Harry Redknapp, under whom he excelled in 2011-12, when he was on loan at Tottenham from City. One of the first things that Sherwood said to Adebayor was that he believed in him and he has played him up front with a strike partner, which is how he likes it.

Because of his height, there is the temptation to stereotype Adebayor as a No9, as a big target man, but he is more of a No10, who likes to drop off and work with another forward. Villas-Boas never really got to grips with Adebayor, either as a man or a player and the Togolese struggled as his lone striker last season, even if there were the obligatory glimpses. Adebayor was brilliant at Chelsea in May.

Adebayor's record against his former English clubs is average. In 12 appearances in all competitions against Arsenal and City, he has won five and lost six, with one draw. He has scored three times (including one penalty). But the matches are often dramatic, particularly against Arsenal.

Adebayor's juices are flowing for City. During those early rises in Ghana, he imagined taking centre stage in Tottenham's biggest games. It has been a long road, heavy on sharp turns, but at last Adebayor can step on the gas.