diff --git a/drivers/spi/spi.c b/drivers/spi/spi.c
index bc3d7c0ce6b4..7a70ef47cdf6 100644
--- a/drivers/spi/spi.c
+++ b/drivers/spi/spi.c
@@ -4059,6 +4059,8 @@ static int __spi_validate(struct spi_device *spi, struct spi_message *message)
 	if (list_empty(&message->transfers))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
+	message->spi = spi;
+
 	/*
 	 * If an SPI controller does not support toggling the CS line on each
 	 * transfer (indicated by the SPI_CS_WORD flag) or we are using a GPIO
@@ -4071,9 +4073,6 @@ static int __spi_validate(struct spi_device *spi, struct spi_message *message)
 		size_t maxsize = BITS_TO_BYTES(spi->bits_per_word);
 		int ret;
 
-		/* spi_split_transfers_maxsize() requires message->spi */
-		message->spi = spi;
-
 		ret = spi_split_transfers_maxsize(ctlr, message, maxsize,
 						  GFP_KERNEL);
 		if (ret)
@@ -4210,8 +4209,6 @@ static int __spi_async(struct spi_device *spi, struct spi_message *message)
 	if (!ctlr->transfer)
 		return -ENOTSUPP;
 
-	message->spi = spi;
-
 	SPI_STATISTICS_INCREMENT_FIELD(ctlr->pcpu_statistics, spi_async);
 	SPI_STATISTICS_INCREMENT_FIELD(spi->pcpu_statistics, spi_async);
 
@@ -4391,8 +4388,6 @@ static int __spi_sync(struct spi_device *spi, struct spi_message *message)
 	if (status != 0)
 		return status;
 
-	message->spi = spi;
-
 	SPI_STATISTICS_INCREMENT_FIELD(ctlr->pcpu_statistics, spi_sync);
 	SPI_STATISTICS_INCREMENT_FIELD(spi->pcpu_statistics, spi_sync);