diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index e437f689..5bccb302 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ PlatformIO Core 5
   - Added new `check_prune_system_threshold <https://docs.platformio.org/page/core/userguide/cmd_settings.html#check-prune-system-threshold>`__ setting
   - Disabled automatic removal of unnecessary development platform packages (`issue #3708 <https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/issues/3708>`_, `issue #3770 <https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/issues/3770>`_)
   - Fixed an issue when unnecessary packages were removed in  ``update --dry-run`` mode (`issue #3809 <https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/issues/3809>`_)
+  - Fixed a "ValueError: Invalid simple block" when uninstalling a package with a custom name and external source (`issue #3816 <https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/issues/3816>`_)
 
 * **PlatformIO Home**
 
diff --git a/platformio/package/manager/library.py b/platformio/package/manager/library.py
index 9f8bd28a..3f77846b 100644
--- a/platformio/package/manager/library.py
+++ b/platformio/package/manager/library.py
@@ -112,16 +112,11 @@ class LibraryPackageManager(BasePackageManager):  # pylint: disable=too-many-anc
                 )
 
     def _install_dependency(self, dependency, silent=False):
-        if set(["name", "version"]) <= set(dependency.keys()) and any(
-            c in dependency["version"] for c in (":", "/", "@")
-        ):
-            spec = PackageSpec("%s=%s" % (dependency["name"], dependency["version"]))
-        else:
-            spec = PackageSpec(
-                owner=dependency.get("owner"),
-                name=dependency.get("name"),
-                requirements=dependency.get("version"),
-            )
+        spec = PackageSpec(
+            owner=dependency.get("owner"),
+            name=dependency.get("name"),
+            requirements=dependency.get("version"),
+        )
         search_filters = {
             key: value
             for key, value in dependency.items()
@@ -143,11 +138,12 @@ class LibraryPackageManager(BasePackageManager):  # pylint: disable=too-many-anc
         if not silent:
             self.print_message("Removing dependencies...", fg="yellow")
         for dependency in manifest.get("dependencies"):
-            pkg = self.get_package(
-                PackageSpec(
-                    name=dependency.get("name"), requirements=dependency.get("version")
-                )
+            spec = PackageSpec(
+                owner=dependency.get("owner"),
+                name=dependency.get("name"),
+                requirements=dependency.get("version"),
             )
+            pkg = self.get_package(spec)
             if not pkg:
                 continue
             self._uninstall(pkg, silent=silent)
diff --git a/platformio/package/meta.py b/platformio/package/meta.py
index 156445d3..74af1916 100644
--- a/platformio/package/meta.py
+++ b/platformio/package/meta.py
@@ -107,16 +107,21 @@ class PackageSpec(object):  # pylint: disable=too-many-instance-attributes
     def __init__(  # pylint: disable=redefined-builtin,too-many-arguments
         self, raw=None, owner=None, id=None, name=None, requirements=None, url=None
     ):
+        self._requirements = None
         self.owner = owner
         self.id = id
         self.name = name
-        self._requirements = None
         self.url = url
         self.raw = raw
         if requirements:
-            self.requirements = requirements
+            try:
+                self.requirements = requirements
+            except ValueError as exc:
+                if not self.name or self.url or self.raw:
+                    raise exc
+                self.raw = "%s=%s" % (self.name, requirements)
         self._name_is_custom = False
-        self._parse(raw)
+        self._parse(self.raw)
 
     def __eq__(self, other):
         return all(
diff --git a/platformio/platform/_packages.py b/platformio/platform/_packages.py
index 08c40c9b..786f1efc 100644
--- a/platformio/platform/_packages.py
+++ b/platformio/platform/_packages.py
@@ -18,11 +18,10 @@ from platformio.package.meta import PackageSpec
 
 class PlatformPackagesMixin(object):
     def get_package_spec(self, name, version=None):
-        version = version or self.packages[name].get("version")
-        if version and any(c in version for c in (":", "/", "@")):
-            return PackageSpec("%s=%s" % (name, version))
         return PackageSpec(
-            owner=self.packages[name].get("owner"), name=name, requirements=version
+            owner=self.packages[name].get("owner"),
+            name=name,
+            requirements=version or self.packages[name].get("version"),
         )
 
     def get_package(self, name, spec=None):
diff --git a/tests/package/test_meta.py b/tests/package/test_meta.py
index 32b3d56a..1cda6409 100644
--- a/tests/package/test_meta.py
+++ b/tests/package/test_meta.py
@@ -169,6 +169,15 @@ def test_spec_vcs_urls():
         url="git+git@github.com:platformio/platformio-core.git",
         requirements="^1.2.3,!=5",
     )
+    assert PackageSpec(
+        owner="platformio",
+        name="external-repo",
+        requirements="https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core",
+    ) == PackageSpec(
+        owner="platformio",
+        name="external-repo",
+        url="git+https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core",
+    )
 
 
 def test_spec_as_dict():