diff --git a/fs/nfsd/vfs.c b/fs/nfsd/vfs.c
index 5684845d9511..e29034b1e612 100644
--- a/fs/nfsd/vfs.c
+++ b/fs/nfsd/vfs.c
@@ -1803,9 +1803,18 @@ nfsd_unlink(struct svc_rqst *rqstp, struct svc_fh *fhp, int type,
 
 	fh_fill_pre_attrs(fhp);
 	if (type != S_IFDIR) {
+		int retries;
+
 		if (rdentry->d_sb->s_export_op->flags & EXPORT_OP_CLOSE_BEFORE_UNLINK)
 			nfsd_close_cached_files(rdentry);
-		host_err = vfs_unlink(dirp, rdentry, NULL);
+
+		for (retries = 1;;) {
+			host_err = vfs_unlink(dirp, rdentry, NULL);
+			if (host_err != -EAGAIN || !retries--)
+				break;
+			if (!nfsd_wait_for_delegreturn(rqstp, rinode))
+				break;
+		}
 	} else {
 		host_err = vfs_rmdir(dirp, rdentry);
 	}