Louis van Gaal has responded to Ángel Di María’s claim that he was unable to settle at Manchester United because he was constantly asked to change position by accusing the Argentinian of failing to take responsibility for his disappointing time at the club.

Di María became the British record transfer when signing from Real Madrid in summer 2014 for £59.7m. Yet he left 12 months later for Paris Saint-Germain having scored only four goals and made 32 appearances, of which 13 were starts.

After Di María complained that he was too often shifted around by Van Gaal, the Dutchman said: “I have never seen [many] players who look at themselves, who look to the way they have performed. It is always the fault of the manager. So he is one of the players who are in a row of players who have no self-criticism. Unfortunately it is my life as a manager. It is always like that.”

Di María told the BBC: “It’s not nice to say certain things but it’s more that they didn’t let me settle properly than I couldn’t settle. I left and that team are still playing the same way. Out of the European competitions, far from being champions of the Premier League.

“I don’t think it was my fault or the fault of my team-mates. Every time I was given the opportunity, I did all I could but it didn’t work out as I hoped. So I decided to leave, not only to be happy but to win things. I started a game in one position then the next game in another. I scored goals playing in one position, then suddenly the next game I was picked to play in a different position.”

Di María’s PSG face Manchester City in Wednesday evening’s Champions League quarter-final first leg in Paris. It is a competition United hope to participate in next season but Van Gaal believes he could remain as United manager even if the side fail to qualify. United are in sixth place on 50 points, one point behind City, who are in fourth, and have eight matches left. At the end of the season Van Gaal will have a year left on the three-year contract he signed in the summer of 2014.

Asked if he would be surprised to remain should United finish outside the top four, Van Gaal said: “I cannot say that because I do not know the next eight matches. You can only evaluate when you have the total facts. The board has to evaluate after the results of this year, what they have to do. That is normal. I cannot predict that when I do not know the facts.

“The results and Champions League positions you can only say in May and then you have to evaluate the circumstances I had to work in.”