diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/metadata/metadata.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/metadata/metadata.go
index 8d4aa262bbf..8152aa12489 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/metadata/metadata.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/metadata/metadata.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
 	"time"
 
 	"k8s.io/klog/v2"
@@ -85,13 +86,27 @@ func NewForConfigOrDie(c *rest.Config) Interface {
 // metadata details about any Kubernetes object (core, aggregated, or custom
 // resource based) in the form of PartialObjectMetadata objects, or returns
 // an error.
+// NewForConfig is equivalent to NewForConfigAndClient(c, httpClient),
+// where httpClient was generated with rest.HTTPClientFor(c).
 func NewForConfig(inConfig *rest.Config) (Interface, error) {
 	config := ConfigFor(inConfig)
+
+	httpClient, err := rest.HTTPClientFor(config)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return NewForConfigAndClient(config, httpClient)
+}
+
+// NewForConfigAndClient creates a new metadata client for the given config and http client.
+// Note the http client provided takes precedence over the configured transport values.
+func NewForConfigAndClient(inConfig *rest.Config, h *http.Client) (Interface, error) {
+	config := ConfigFor(inConfig)
 	// for serializing the options
 	config.GroupVersion = &schema.GroupVersion{}
 	config.APIPath = "/this-value-should-never-be-sent"
 
-	restClient, err := rest.RESTClientFor(config)
+	restClient, err := rest.RESTClientForConfigAndClient(config, h)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}