Frederic Kanoute admitted on Saturday that exhaustion was the reason why his African Nations Cup campaign with Mali ended so disappointingly.
The Tottenham striker hit three goals in the group stage to lead his side into the quarter-finals where he then added a fourth in the 2-1 win against Guinea.
But he was almost anonymous in the crushing 4-0 semi-final loss to Morocco and was substituted midway through the second half of Friday's third-place play-off which Mali lost 2-1 to Nigeria in Monastir.
"I wasn't at the top of my form against Nigeria," said the 26-year-old whose decision to play for Mali, under new FIFA eligibility rules, caused so much controversy at Tottenham.
"I hadn't really recovered from the semi-final against Morocco. That had been a difficult game for me."
Four-goal Kanoute, who was joint top scorer at the tournament with Cameroon's Patrick Mboma and Jay Jay Okocha of Nigeria before Saturday's final between Tunisia and Morocco, will now return to London to resume his Premiership career.
There he faces another tussle - to win back his first team place from new seven-million-pound signing Jermain Defoe who has hit two goals in two games since his move from West Ham earlier this month.
"It's a shame Mali could only finish fourth," said Kanoute. "But I will go home with some very good memories of the tournament."