diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c
index 93321437f093..3a5abfb1a890 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c
@@ -1133,6 +1133,7 @@ static int stmmac_init_phy(struct net_device *dev)
 {
 	struct stmmac_priv *priv = netdev_priv(dev);
 	struct fwnode_handle *fwnode;
+	bool phy_needed;
 	int ret;
 
 	fwnode = of_fwnode_handle(priv->plat->phylink_node);
@@ -1142,10 +1143,11 @@ static int stmmac_init_phy(struct net_device *dev)
 	if (fwnode)
 		ret = phylink_fwnode_phy_connect(priv->phylink, fwnode, 0);
 
+	phy_needed = phylink_expects_phy(priv->phylink);
 	/* Some DT bindings do not set-up the PHY handle. Let's try to
 	 * manually parse it
 	 */
-	if (!fwnode || ret) {
+	if (!fwnode || phy_needed || ret) {
 		int addr = priv->plat->phy_addr;
 		struct phy_device *phydev;