diff --git a/client/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/request/NettyRequestSender.java b/client/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/request/NettyRequestSender.java
index fc7956c4d..a6601d57d 100755
--- a/client/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/request/NettyRequestSender.java
+++ b/client/src/main/java/org/asynchttpclient/netty/request/NettyRequestSender.java
@@ -1373,6 +1373,10 @@ private Channel pollPooledChannel(NettyResponseFuture<?> future, Request request
         Uri uri = request.getUri();
         String virtualHost = request.getVirtualHost();
 
+        // SLF4J has no three-argument overload, so every debug statement below binds to
+        // debug(String, Object...) and allocates its varargs array at the call site whatever the level. This
+        // is the steady-state connection-reuse path, so they are all guarded explicitly.
+
         // Round-robin mode: poll with the IP-aware key so reuse stays pinned to the chosen IP (both the
         // HTTP/2 registry and the HTTP/1.1 pool).
         Object override = future != null ? future.getPartitionKeyOverride() : null;
@@ -1380,12 +1384,14 @@ private Channel pollPooledChannel(NettyResponseFuture<?> future, Request request
             if (!uri.isWebSocket()) {
                 Channel h2Channel = channelManager.pollHttp2Connection(override);
                 if (h2Channel != null) {
-                    LOGGER.debug("Using HTTP/2 multiplexed Channel '{}' for '{}' to '{}'", h2Channel, request.getMethod(), uri);
+                    if (LOGGER.isDebugEnabled()) {
+                        LOGGER.debug("Using HTTP/2 multiplexed Channel '{}' for '{}' to '{}'", h2Channel, request.getMethod(), uri);
+                    }
                     return h2Channel;
                 }
             }
             Channel channel = channelManager.poll(override);
-            if (channel != null) {
+            if (channel != null && LOGGER.isDebugEnabled()) {
                 LOGGER.debug("Using pooled Channel '{}' for '{}' to '{}'", channel, request.getMethod(), uri);
             }
             return channel;
@@ -1406,14 +1412,16 @@ private Channel pollPooledChannel(NettyResponseFuture<?> future, Request request
         if (!uri.isWebSocket()) {
             Channel h2Channel = channelManager.pollHttp2Connection(partitionKey);
             if (h2Channel != null) {
-                LOGGER.debug("Using HTTP/2 multiplexed Channel '{}' for '{}' to '{}'", h2Channel, request.getMethod(), uri);
+                if (LOGGER.isDebugEnabled()) {
+                    LOGGER.debug("Using HTTP/2 multiplexed Channel '{}' for '{}' to '{}'", h2Channel, request.getMethod(), uri);
+                }
                 return h2Channel;
             }
         }
 
         final Channel channel = channelManager.poll(partitionKey);
 
-        if (channel != null) {
+        if (channel != null && LOGGER.isDebugEnabled()) {
             LOGGER.debug("Using pooled Channel '{}' for '{}' to '{}'", channel, request.getMethod(), uri);
         }
         return channel;