How to parse JSON using "$ref" in Azure Data Factory

Question

Hi, I am using Azure Data Factory to get JSON data from a REST API, flatten it in a Data Flow and finally store it in our data lake.
Our API is using System.Text.Json with ReferenceHandler set to Preserve. This results in a Json like that:

{
  "$id": "1",
  "Name": "Tyler Stein",
  "Manager": null,
  "DirectReports": {
    "$id": "2",
    "$values": [
      {
        "$id": "3",
        "Name": "Adrian King",
        "Manager": {
          "$ref": "1"
        },
        "DirectReports": null
      }
    ]
  }
}

Unfortunately, when looking at the column projection in Azure Data Flow the "$ref" is listed as separate column instead of replacing it with the object it is referring to.

How can I make sure that the JSON is deserialized correctly before I continue with flattening activities etc.?