First spell

In January 2008, Ajax showed interest in Silva. As a result, Silva decided to go on strike, in order to force a transfer.^[3] Eventually, he succeeded and moved to Ajax on 22 January 2008.^[4] This caused anger with the Groningen supporters.^[5] Groningen-teammates Rasmus Lindgren and Silva's fellow countryman Luis Suárez also leaving Groningen for Ajax added insult to injury. The first time Silva play an away game against Groningen with Ajax, burning toilet paper was thrown at the pitch, and the game was suspended due to fire on the stands.^[6] In the second half of the 2007–08 season, Silva made twelve appearances for Ajax.^[2]

The following season – 2008–09 – was a difficult season for Silva, as he was surpassed in the starting lineup by the emerging talent Gregory van der Wiel, which meant that he lost his starting job and was often not even part of the matchday squad.^[7][8] In the end, he would still play nine games and score once.^[2] In January 2009, both Palermo and Roma showed interest in acquiring Silva from Ajax.^[9] However, Ajax did not respond to this, because they at the time had too few defenders in the squad.^[10][11] During the first half of the 2009–10 season, Silva no longer made an impact on the pitch for Ajax.^[12]

Internacional (loan)

In December 2009, Brazilian club Internacional signed Silva on a one-year loan deal effective for the 2010 season. The loan was a success, with Silva helping the club win its second South American Copa Libertadores – Silva's first international club accolade of his career.^[13][12] He made 15 appearances for the club, in which he scored one goal before returning to Ajax.^[2]

Return

Silva's loan ended on 31 December 2010. On 4 January 2011, he returned to the training pitch at Ajax, together with Argentine striker Darío Cvitanich, who had also been on loan during the 2010 season.^[14] Silva played in Ajax's winter friendlies under new head coach Frank de Boer, but on 11 January, he was injured during a training session and broke his collarbone.^[15][16] Because of this, Silva had to undergo surgery on his shoulder. On 3 February 2011, it was announced that Silva would be sidelined for about four months and therefore had to miss the rest of the season.^[17] However, something went wrong during surgery, and he suffered a life-threatening infection.^[18] He was sidelined for the entire 2011–12 season. On 31 March 2012 it was announced that Ajax would enter into talks with Silva about his expiring contract and rehabilitation.^[19]