diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 004f01521c..3b3786bbdb 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2762,7 +2762,7 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
                    link_with : [libnetworkd_core,
                                 libsystemd_network,
                                 libudev_static,
-                                libshared],
+                                networkd_link_with],
                    dependencies : [threads],
                    install_rpath : rootlibexecdir,
                    install : true,
@@ -2772,7 +2772,7 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
                    systemd_networkd_wait_online_sources,
                    include_directories : includes,
                    link_with : [libnetworkd_core,
-                                libshared],
+                                networkd_link_with],
                    install_rpath : rootlibexecdir,
                    install : true,
                    install_dir : rootlibexecdir)
@@ -2781,7 +2781,7 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
                    networkctl_sources,
                    include_directories : includes,
                    link_with : [libsystemd_network,
-                              libshared],
+                              networkd_link_with],
                    install_rpath : rootlibexecdir,
                    install : true,
                    install_dir : rootbindir)
@@ -2790,7 +2790,7 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
         executable('systemd-network-generator',
                    network_generator_sources,
                    include_directories : includes,
-                   link_with : [libshared],
+                   link_with : [networkd_link_with],
                    install_rpath : rootlibexecdir,
                    install : true,
                    install_dir : rootlibexecdir)
@@ -3296,6 +3296,7 @@ foreach tuple : [
         ['trace logging',    conf.get('LOG_TRACE') == 1],
         ['link-udev-shared',      get_option('link-udev-shared')],
         ['link-systemctl-shared', get_option('link-systemctl-shared')],
+        ['link-networkd-shared',  get_option('link-networkd-shared')],
 ]
 
         if tuple.length() >= 2
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 8a1143a7ec..4d641c3671 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ option('link-udev-shared', type : 'boolean',
        description : 'link systemd-udev and its helpers to libsystemd-shared.so')
 option('link-systemctl-shared', type: 'boolean',
        description : 'link systemctl against libsystemd-shared.so')
+option('link-networkd-shared', type: 'boolean',
+       description : 'link systemd-networkd and its helpers to libsystemd-shared.so')
 option('static-libsystemd', type : 'combo',
        choices : ['false', 'true', 'pic', 'no-pic'],
        description : '''install a static library for libsystemd''')
diff --git a/src/network/meson.build b/src/network/meson.build
index 3843ffbca9..7cb1bb5a38 100644
--- a/src/network/meson.build
+++ b/src/network/meson.build
@@ -146,6 +146,15 @@ network_generator_sources = files('''
 network_include_dir = [includes, include_directories(['.', 'netdev', 'tc'])]
 
 if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
+        if get_option('link-networkd-shared')
+                networkd_link_with = [libshared]
+        else
+                networkd_link_with = [libsystemd_static,
+                                      libshared_static,
+                                      libjournal_client,
+                                      libbasic_gcrypt]
+        endif
+
         networkd_gperf_c = custom_target(
                 'networkd-gperf.c',
                 input : 'networkd-gperf.gperf',
@@ -172,7 +181,7 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
                 networkd_network_gperf_c,
                 netdev_gperf_c,
                 include_directories : network_include_dir,
-                link_with : [libshared])
+                link_with : [networkd_link_with])
 
         install_data('org.freedesktop.network1.conf',
                      install_dir : dbuspolicydir)
@@ -198,7 +207,7 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
      [libnetworkd_core,
       libudev_static,
       libsystemd_network,
-      libshared],
+      networkd_link_with],
      [threads],
      [],
      network_include_dir],
@@ -208,7 +217,7 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
      [libnetworkd_core,
       libudev_static,
       libsystemd_network,
-      libshared],
+      networkd_link_with],
      [threads],
      [],
      network_include_dir],
@@ -225,7 +234,7 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
      [libnetworkd_core,
       libudev_static,
       libsystemd_network,
-      libshared],
+      networkd_link_with],
      [threads],
      '', '', [], network_include_dir],
 
@@ -240,7 +249,7 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
      [libnetworkd_core,
       libudev_static,
       libsystemd_network,
-      libshared],
+      networkd_link_with],
      [threads],
      '', '', [],
      [network_include_dir]],
@@ -248,7 +257,7 @@ if conf.get('ENABLE_NETWORKD') == 1
     [['src/network/generator/test-network-generator.c',
       'src/network/generator/network-generator.c',
       'src/network/generator/network-generator.h'],
-     [libshared],
+     [networkd_link_with],
      [], '', '', [], network_include_dir],
   ]
 endif