Los Angeles Galaxy striker Robbie Keane has revealed that he is distantly related to The Smiths frontman Morrissey.

The former Tottenham Hotspur forward has claimed that the Lancashire-born star contacted him while he was in the US to discuss their family tree.

Morrissey confirmed on his website that the pair were related through Keane's grandfather Thomas Nolan, who was the singer's father's cousin.

"It's the bizarrest situation ever," the Daily Mail quotes Keane as saying. "He wanted to meet me, so I ended up meeting him, and he told me the whole history of Captain's Road in Crumlin, obviously my family is all from there, his dad and my grandad were first cousins.

"It's definitely true. I hadn't a clue beforehand. I asked my mother and said `how come for years nobody has ever said that? It's not something you don't tell people.' She said her brother was saying for years that was the case but we didn't think anything of it."

Meanwhile, an image of Keane recently replaced that of David Beckham on the back of buses in LA.