Former Chelsea star Didier Drogba was set to return from international duty and into a row at his Shanghai Shenhua club where some of his teammates have reportedly refused to practise over unpaid wages.

Shenhua players protested on Monday over a pay dispute, turning up late for practise at the club's training ground and taking a leisurely stroll around a running track.

Media reports have said payments to some players were skipped.

However, the team will play its next game tomorrow as scheduled, club and league officials said in comments suggesting the dispute had been laid to rest.

Training had returned to normal after the one-day protest, a club official said, declining further comment.

Drogba is returning after scoring twice in Ivory Coast's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Senegal on Saturday that was abandoned in the second half because of rioting fans.

A spokeswoman for the Chinese Football Association said that a scheduled match between ninth-placed Shenhua and Changchun Yatai, which is two places higher, would kick off as scheduled on Saturday.

"The match will be on as planned," she said.

According to reports, Shenhua's chief investor Zhu Jun has threatened to withhold salaries of players unless he is granted majority control of the club.

It was not clear whether the threat was the reason behind the reportedly unpaid wages.

In a posting on his microblog on Wednesday, the flamboyant online gaming tycoon said he "solemnly respected and understood" the action by the players on Monday.

China's Soccer News newspaper reported yesterday that the dispute was likely to be settled by the end of this year with major shareholders allowing Zhu's share of the club to increase to above 70 percent.

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