diff --git a/rt/rs/client/src/main/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/client/spec/ClientImpl.java b/rt/rs/client/src/main/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/client/spec/ClientImpl.java
index 48f5b9947ce..9a6792920f3 100644
--- a/rt/rs/client/src/main/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/client/spec/ClientImpl.java
+++ b/rt/rs/client/src/main/java/org/apache/cxf/jaxrs/client/spec/ClientImpl.java
@@ -232,6 +232,7 @@ public class WebTargetImpl implements WebTarget {
         private Configurable<WebTarget> configImpl;
         private UriBuilder uriBuilder;
         private WebClient targetClient;
+        private boolean threadSafeTargetClient;
 
 
         public WebTargetImpl(UriBuilder uriBuilder,
@@ -310,7 +311,7 @@ public Builder request() {
                 cxfFeature.initialize(clientCfg, clientCfg.getBus());
             }
             // Start building the invocation
-            return new InvocationBuilderImpl(WebClient.fromClient(targetClient),
+            return new InvocationBuilderImpl(threadSafeTargetClient ? targetClient : WebClient.fromClient(targetClient),
                                              getConfiguration());
         }
         private void setConnectionProperties(Map<String, Object> configProps, ClientConfiguration clientCfg) {
@@ -361,6 +362,7 @@ private void initTargetClientIfNeeded(Map<String, Object> configProps) {
                     }
                 }
                 targetClient = bean.createWebClient();
+                threadSafeTargetClient = threadSafe;
                 ClientImpl.this.baseClients.add(targetClient);
             } else if (!targetClient.getCurrentURI().equals(uri)) {
                 targetClient.to(uri.toString(), false);
@@ -470,7 +472,7 @@ public WebTarget resolveTemplatesFromEncoded(Map<String, Object> templatesMap) {
         private WebTarget newWebTarget(UriBuilder newBuilder) {
             WebClient newClient;
             if (targetClient != null) {
-                newClient = WebClient.fromClient(targetClient);
+                newClient = threadSafeTargetClient ? targetClient : WebClient.fromClient(targetClient);
             } else {
                 newClient = null;
             }
diff --git a/systests/jaxrs/src/test/java/org/apache/cxf/systest/jaxrs/JAXRSMultithreadedClientTest.java b/systests/jaxrs/src/test/java/org/apache/cxf/systest/jaxrs/JAXRSMultithreadedClientTest.java
index de1a396f773..e8a0359ef1d 100644
--- a/systests/jaxrs/src/test/java/org/apache/cxf/systest/jaxrs/JAXRSMultithreadedClientTest.java
+++ b/systests/jaxrs/src/test/java/org/apache/cxf/systest/jaxrs/JAXRSMultithreadedClientTest.java
@@ -27,10 +27,13 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
+import jakarta.ws.rs.client.ClientBuilder;
+import jakarta.ws.rs.client.WebTarget;
 import jakarta.ws.rs.core.MultivaluedMap;
 import jakarta.ws.rs.core.Response;
 import org.apache.cxf.helpers.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.cxf.jaxrs.client.Client;
+import org.apache.cxf.jaxrs.client.ClientProperties;
 import org.apache.cxf.jaxrs.client.JAXRSClientFactory;
 import org.apache.cxf.jaxrs.client.JAXRSClientFactoryBean;
 import org.apache.cxf.jaxrs.client.WebClient;
@@ -77,6 +80,18 @@ public void testSimpleWebClient() throws Exception {
         runWebClients(client, 10, true, false);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testWebTargetGC() throws Exception {
+        WebTarget target = ClientBuilder.newClient().target("http://localhost:" + PORT + "/bookstore/booksecho")
+            .property(ClientProperties.THREAD_SAFE_CLIENT_PROP, true);
+
+        target.request().get().getStatus();
+
+        System.gc();
+
+        target.request().get().getStatus();
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testSimpleProxy() throws Exception {
         BookStore proxy = JAXRSClientFactory.create("http://localhost:" + PORT, BookStore.class);