diff --git a/GaudiProfiling/CMakeLists.txt b/GaudiProfiling/CMakeLists.txt
index 701d0915102006934fe7e5c104e01e5bbc82e1eb..67bd77afa9bba5b6f17dd6c2b1a0c61c536cc424 100644
--- a/GaudiProfiling/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/GaudiProfiling/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -48,12 +48,15 @@ endif()
 # Google PerfTools profiler
 #-----------------------------------
 if(GAUDI_USE_GPERFTOOLS)
+  # Note we do not link against libtcmalloc.so or libprofiler.so as they have to be
+  # preloaded (see next comment)
   gaudi_add_module(GaudiGoogleProfiling
                    SOURCES src/component/google/GoogleAuditor.cpp
                    LINK GaudiKernel
                         GaudiAlgLib
-                        ZLIB::ZLIB
-                        gperftools::gperftools)
+                        ZLIB::ZLIB)
+  # but we still need to add the include directories to the search path
+  target_include_directories(GaudiGoogleProfiling PRIVATE ${GPERFTOOLS_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
   # Special handling of unresolved symbols in GaudiGoogleProfiling.
   # The profilers need to have libtcmalloc.so or libprofiler.so pre-loaded to
diff --git a/cmake/modules/Findgperftools.cmake b/cmake/modules/Findgperftools.cmake
index f9e2c0d06149432cf4633510666133ad33ad9ae6..080b24c814bc18e82f861af3fa7c3863ae79cfc0 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/Findgperftools.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/Findgperftools.cmake
@@ -133,7 +133,8 @@ endif()
 
 if(COMMAND __deprecate_var_for_target)
   foreach(v IN ITEMS GPERFTOOLS_INCLUDE_DIR
-                     GPERFTOOLS_INCLUDE_DIRS GPERFTOOLS_TCMALLOC_LIBRARY
+                     # GPERFTOOLS_INCLUDE_DIRS
+                     GPERFTOOLS_TCMALLOC_LIBRARY
                      GPERFTOOLS_TCMALLOC_DEBUG_LIBRARY
                      GPERFTOOLS_TCMALLOC_MINIMAL_LIBRARY
                      GPERFTOOLS_TCMALLOC_AND_PROFILER_LIBRARY