diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/BrokerToControllerChannelManager.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/BrokerToControllerChannelManager.scala
index 05f50b720b1f..1ee74f686b4f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/BrokerToControllerChannelManager.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/BrokerToControllerChannelManager.scala
@@ -342,7 +342,12 @@ class BrokerToControllerRequestThread(
     } else if (response.responseBody().errorCounts().containsKey(Errors.NOT_CONTROLLER)) {
       // just close the controller connection and wait for metadata cache update in doWork
       activeControllerAddress().foreach { controllerAddress => {
-        networkClient.disconnect(controllerAddress.idString)
+        try {
+          // We don't care if disconnect has an error, just log it and get a new network client
+          networkClient.disconnect(controllerAddress.idString)
+        } catch {
+          case t: Throwable => error("Had an error while disconnecting from NetworkClient.", t)
+        }
       }}
 
       requestQueue.putFirst(queueItem)