diff --git a/src/replication.c b/src/replication.c
index 8ff8ad3f0f..22a710c291 100644
--- a/src/replication.c
+++ b/src/replication.c
@@ -1036,6 +1036,9 @@ void syncCommand(client *c) {
     /* ignore SYNC if already replica or in monitor mode */
     if (c->flag.replica) return;
 
+    /* Wait for any IO pending operation to finish before changing the client state to replica */
+    waitForClientIO(c);
+
     /* Check if this is a failover request to a replica with the same replid and
      * become a primary if so. */
     if (c->argc > 3 && !strcasecmp(c->argv[0]->ptr, "psync") && !strcasecmp(c->argv[3]->ptr, "failover")) {
@@ -1147,8 +1150,6 @@ void syncCommand(client *c) {
     c->repl_state = REPLICA_STATE_WAIT_BGSAVE_START;
     if (server.repl_disable_tcp_nodelay) connDisableTcpNoDelay(c->conn); /* Non critical if it fails. */
     c->repldbfd = -1;
-    /* Wait for any IO pending operation to finish before changing the client state */
-    waitForClientIO(c);
     c->flag.replica = 1;
     listAddNodeTail(server.replicas, c);
 
diff --git a/src/socket.c b/src/socket.c
index 7344d66ad8..c83ce38234 100644
--- a/src/socket.c
+++ b/src/socket.c
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 
 #include "server.h"
 #include "connhelpers.h"
+#include "io_threads.h"
 
 /* The connections module provides a lean abstraction of network connections
  * to avoid direct socket and async event management across the server code base.
@@ -154,6 +155,10 @@ static void connSocketClose(connection *conn) {
 }
 
 static int connSocketWrite(connection *conn, const void *data, size_t data_len) {
+    /* Assert the main thread is not writing to a connection that is currently offloaded. */
+    debugServerAssert(!(conn->flags & CONN_FLAG_ALLOW_ACCEPT_OFFLOAD) || !inMainThread() ||
+                      ((client *)connGetPrivateData(conn))->io_write_state != CLIENT_PENDING_IO);
+
     int ret = write(conn->fd, data, data_len);
     if (ret < 0 && errno != EAGAIN) {
         conn->last_errno = errno;
@@ -182,6 +187,11 @@ static int connSocketWritev(connection *conn, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcn
 }
 
 static int connSocketRead(connection *conn, void *buf, size_t buf_len) {
+    /* Assert the main thread is not reading from a connection that is currently offloaded. */
+    debugServerAssert(!(conn->flags & CONN_FLAG_ALLOW_ACCEPT_OFFLOAD) || !inMainThread() ||
+                      ((client *)connGetPrivateData(conn))->io_read_state != CLIENT_PENDING_IO);
+
+
     int ret = read(conn->fd, buf, buf_len);
     if (!ret) {
         conn->state = CONN_STATE_CLOSED;