java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Could not find class [org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.web.WebClientAutoConfiguration]

Question

I am facing the above issue while migrating spring-boot from 1.5.4.RELEASE to 2.7.12, below is the stack trace of the error

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Could not find class [org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.web.WebClientAutoConfiguration]
    at org.springframework.util.ClassUtils.resolveClassName(ClassUtils.java:334) ~[spring-core-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.TypeMappedAnnotation.adapt(TypeMappedAnnotation.java:474) ~[spring-core-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.TypeMappedAnnotation.getValue(TypeMappedAnnotation.java:397) ~[spring-core-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.TypeMappedAnnotation.asMap(TypeMappedAnnotation.java:283) ~[spring-core-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AbstractMergedAnnotation.asAnnotationAttributes(AbstractMergedAnnotation.java:193) ~[spring-core-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.core.type.AnnotatedTypeMetadata.getAnnotationAttributes(AnnotatedTypeMetadata.java:106) ~[spring-core-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.core.type.AnnotatedTypeMetadata.getAnnotationAttributes(AnnotatedTypeMetadata.java:81) ~[spring-core-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationConfigUtils.attributesFor(AnnotationConfigUtils.java:285) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationBeanNameGenerator.determineBeanNameFromAnnotation(AnnotationBeanNameGenerator.java:103) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationBeanNameGenerator.generateBeanName(AnnotationBeanNameGenerator.java:82) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.registerBeanDefinitionForImportedConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.java:169) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitionsForConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.java:150) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.java:129) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.processConfigBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:343) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.postProcessBeanDefinitionRegistry(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:247) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanDefinitionRegistryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:311) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:112) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:748) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:564) ~[spring-context-5.3.27.jar:5.3.27]
    at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.refresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:147) ~[spring-boot-2.7.12.jar:2.7.12]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:731) [spring-boot-2.7.12.jar:2.7.12]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:408) [spring-boot-2.7.12.jar:2.7.12]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:307) [spring-boot-2.7.12.jar:2.7.12]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1303) [spring-boot-2.7.12.jar:2.7.12]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1292) [spring-boot-2.7.12.jar:2.7.12]
    at Application.main(Application.java:31) [main/:?]

I tried out with all the solutions available online, by skipping the dependency. Also try with removing the EnableAutoCOnfiguration annotations as well