diff --git a/include/haproxy/pool-t.h b/include/haproxy/pool-t.h
index 48d06be15..d476f31d4 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/pool-t.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/pool-t.h
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@
 #define POOL_LINK(pool, item) (void **)(((char *)(item)) + ((pool)->size))
 #else
 #define POOL_EXTRA (0)
-#define POOL_LINK(pool, item) ((void **)(item))
 #endif
 
 /* A special pointer for the pool's free_list that indicates someone is
diff --git a/include/haproxy/pool.h b/include/haproxy/pool.h
index cb2c8b4de..d8407b19e 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/pool.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/pool.h
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ static inline void *pool_get_from_shared_cache(struct pool_head *pool)
 	}
 
 	/* this releases the lock */
-	_HA_ATOMIC_STORE(&pool->free_list, *POOL_LINK(pool, ret));
+	_HA_ATOMIC_STORE(&pool->free_list, *(void **)ret);
 	_HA_ATOMIC_INC(&pool->used);
 
 #ifdef DEBUG_MEMORY_POOLS
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ static inline void pool_put_to_shared_cache(struct pool_head *pool, void *ptr)
 				__ha_cpu_relax();
 				free_list = _HA_ATOMIC_LOAD(&pool->free_list);
 			}
-			_HA_ATOMIC_STORE(POOL_LINK(pool, ptr), (void *)free_list);
+			_HA_ATOMIC_STORE((void **)ptr, (void *)free_list);
 			__ha_barrier_atomic_store();
 		} while (!_HA_ATOMIC_CAS(&pool->free_list, &free_list, ptr));
 		__ha_barrier_atomic_store();
diff --git a/src/pool.c b/src/pool.c
index e64bfcacf..7d83a953f 100644
--- a/src/pool.c
+++ b/src/pool.c
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ void pool_flush(struct pool_head *pool)
 
 	while (next) {
 		temp = next;
-		next = *POOL_LINK(pool, temp);
+		next = *(void **)temp;
 		pool_put_to_os(pool, temp);
 	}
 	/* here, we should have pool->allocated == pool->used */
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ void pool_gc(struct pool_head *pool_ctx)
 		while (entry->free_list &&
 		       (int)(entry->allocated - entry->used) > (int)entry->minavail) {
 			temp = entry->free_list;
-			entry->free_list = *POOL_LINK(entry, temp);
+			entry->free_list = *(void **)temp;
 			pool_put_to_os(entry, temp);
 		}
 	}